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Jenkinson, Edward B.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement: 40 Questions lc

Answers.

Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, Bloomington,

Ind.

ISBN-0-87367-432-4

137p.

Publication Sales, Phi

Union Avenue, Box 789,

($5.00).

Information Analyses (070)

Delta Kappa, Eighth Street and

Bloomington, IN 47402

MF01/PC06 Plus Postage.

Academic Freedom; *Censorship; Court Litigation;

*Educational Environment; Elementary Secondary

Education; *Freedom of Information; Freedom of

Speech; Intellectual Freedom; Moral Values; Parent

Rights; Parent School Relationship; School Law;

Student Rights; *Textbooks; *Textbook Selection;

Value Judgment

IDENTIFIERS

*First Amendment; National Council of Teachers of

English

ABSTRACT

While in office, the 1976 chairman of the Committee

against Censorship of the National Council of Teachers of English

received reports of complaints about classroom and library materials;

debated with textbook protestors; and participated in over 100 radio

shows, at least half of which were call-in shows involving exchange

of views with schoolbook protesters. This book focuses on the 40

questions most frequently asked in his discussions with teachers,

librarians, administrators, school board members, students, and

parents. The following are among the topics discussed: (1) rights of

parents and students; (2) arguments used by book protesters and their

opponents; (3) legal background; (4) background of the schoolbook

protesters; and (5) guides for school systems in the materials

selection process and in how to respond to schoolbook protesters.

Footnotes at the end of the book pertain to 31 of the 40 questions.

(MLF)

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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

from the original document.

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A...,INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

THE SCHOOLBOOK

PROTEST MOVEMENT

40 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Edward B. Jenkinson

Indiana University

Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation

Bloomington, Indiana

cover design by Keiko Kasza

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 85-62729

ISBN 0-873674324

Dedication

To the memory of my niece, Mary Kathryn Jenkinson

Dungan, who was a most inspiring young teacher

and to tE 2 memory of my friends, Bernarr Foka, Lawrence

Haddad, and Paul Jacobs

all great teachers, each in his

own way.

Acknowledgments

Nearly three ycars ago, Derek Burleson, editor of special

publications for Phi Delta Kappa, suggested that I write this

book. He has been patient, quietly persistent, and gently

persuasive ever since. I am very pleased that he requested

the book, and I am very relieved that it is now finished. So

are my wife, Ronna, and our children, Andrea, Mark, and

Nicholas. They endured during the writing, and they en-

couraged me after late nights and early mornings at the

word processor.

Bobbi Shank, Julie Bach, and Amy Foster searched

through filing cabinets and boxes filled with newspaper clip-

pings, magazine articles, and letters, sometimes vainly at-

tempting to find what I felt I needed at once. They, too,

offered encouragement when it was needed most, as did

J. Charles Park, professor of education at the University of

Wisconsin

Whitewater. His kind words and his dedica-

tion to research were inspiring, as was the work of Barbara

Parker of People for the American Way, who has been tire-

less in her efforts to protect the freedom to learn in this

country.

Parts of some of the answers in this book are based on

writing I did for other publications, including Censors in

the Classroom (Southern Illinois University Press, 1979).

My earlier words ::ind ideas in these articles served as aids

in writing some of the answers herein: "Protecting Holden

Caulfield and His Friends from the Censors," English Jour-

nal, January 1985; "Schoolbook Skirmishes Leave Long last-

ing Scars," The National Forum, to be published in late

1985; "The Tale of Tell City: An Anti-Censorship Saga," a

discussion paper published by People for the American

Way, 1983; "The Censorship Tale of Tell City," Indiana

English, Spring 1983; and "Is Secular Humanism Being

Taught in Our Public Schools?" Church & Sure, May 1983.

I wish to thank the Madison (Wisconsin) Metropolitan

School District and the Iowa Department of Public Instruc

tion for permission to reprint their instructional materials

policies, and the National Education Association for permis-

sion to reprint part of How Fair Are Your Children's

Textbooks?

Contents

The First Amendment and the Schoolbook Protest Movement:

A Personal Assessment

Questions and Answers

1. What is the schoolbook protest movement?

2. When did the schoolbook protest movement begin?

. .

3. Is there evidence to ipport the claim that the number

of incidents of schoolbook protest is rising annually

4. Why do the schoolbook protesters maintain that they

are not censors?

5. What is censorship when that term is applied to school

materials?

6. What are some of the results of attempts to remove

teaching materials from public schools?

7. What is the difference between censorship and sel?.ction?

Between censorship and consciousness raising?

8. Can censorship of school materials ever be good?

9. Why do opponents of the schoolbook protest movement

invoke the First Amendment?

10. What are the students' rights to learn?

11. What is academic freedom? Does it apply to elementary

and secondary school teachers? And what have the

courts said about academic freedom for public school

teachers?

12. How have the courts responded to the censorship of

school materials

13. What are the parents' rights if they wish to keep their

children from reading or learning something to which

they are opposed?

14. Who are the schoolbook protesters?

15. Do the schoolbook protesters live primarily in small

towns?

lb. What do the schoolbook protesters have in common?

17. What are some of the tactics of the schoolbook

protesters?

18. What are the targets of the schoolbook protesters?

19. Who are the Gablers and how do they affect textbooks

that are used throughout the nation?

20. How does the Texas textbook adoption process affect

the nation's textbooks?

21. How has the Texas textbook adoption process been

changed?

22. Has the Moral Majority been involved in textbook

protest?

23. What other organizations are involved in the protest

movement?

24. How are the organizations affiliated?

25. What is the religion of secular humanism?

26. What do the protesters hope to accomplish by proving

that the schools promote the religion of secular

humanism?

27. What arguments do the protesters offer to substantiate

their charges that the schools preach the religion of

secular humanism?

28. What arguments can be tired to refute the charge that

the schools preach secular humanism?

29. How have the courts responded to the charge that the

public schools preach secular humanism?

30. What is the Hatch Amendment and what does it have

to do with the schoolbook protest movement?

31. What is the censorship tale of Tell City, and is it a

typical incident?

32. What can be learned from the Tell City incident?

33. What steps should school systems take

to pr.:pare for

censorship attempts?

34. What are the ingredients of

a good materials selection

policy?

35. Are there model instructional mawrials

selection policies

that school systems can use as guides';'

36. What steps should a school

system follow if a person

complains about a book or some other teaching material

or teaching metho0

111

37. What is a request for reconsideration form and

when

should it be used?

113

38. What steps can be taken to enhance academic

freedom

for teachers?

114

39. What is the role of an administrator in

a censorship

incident?

117

40. \Vhat books should teachers, librarians, and

administra-

tors read to understand the schoolbook protest

move-

ment and to be prepared to cope with i0

118

Footnotes

120

1 u

The First Amendment and the Schoolbook Protest

Movement: A Personal Assessment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment

of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereofi

abridging the freedom of speech, or of the

press; or the

right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition

the government for a redress of grievances.

The 45 words of the First Amendment have intrigued

me from the

time I enrolled in an introductory journalism course

as an undergradu-

ate. Even before that I read about John Peter Zenger, the colonial print-

er whose trial helped to establish freedom of press in America. As a

high school student, I studied some of the early writings of Benjamin

Franklin, and I marveled at the courage of his editor brother who

was

jailed for criticizing both civic and religious leaders. And I occasional-

ly considered the words of Thomas Jefferson in

a letter to Colonel Ed-

ward Carrington: "The basis of our government being the

opinion of

the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and

were

it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without

newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesi-

tate to prefer the latter." As I continued to study journalism and Eng-

lish and as I taught in junior and senior high schools, I added

to my

knowledge of the First Amendment, I thought; but, in reality, I knew

very little.

The First Amendment, it seemed to me early in

my study, was some-

thing invoked by journalists to protect

a free press. It also protected

free speech, but that protection was limited when it

came to radio and

to television in its infancy. Somehow, I learned, the First Amendment

also guaranteed academic freedom; but as

a high school teacher in the

early Fifties, I did not worry about that. Who needed academic free-

dom to teach Silas Marner and traditional grammar?

In my first two years of teaching, I never questioned the principal's

right to begin faculty meetings, PTA meetings, and

some afterschool

functions with prayer. The Supreme Court had not yet acted

on Abing-

ton v. Schempp, and prayer in a little country school seemed almost

to be part of the curriculum. At least two of the elementary teachers

started the school day with prayer.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

But I could not say prayers aloud in my classroom

even if I had

been so inclined. The township trustee had warned me when I signed

my first contract that I was not to proselytize. He said that he was tak-

ing a chance on hiring the "very first Catholic" to teach in that school

system. When he asked if ! would try to convert the students, I dis-

missed his question with the response that I was there to teach Eng.

lish not Catholicism. But as I participated in school functions, I

learned one disquieting fact: my prayers were out, his were in.

No one's prayers should be sanctioned by the public schools. But

certain prayers were recited in chorus in the Fifties in some school

systems, and they still are today despite the Supreme Court's decision.

The separation of church and state

a guarantee of the First Amend-

ment is as misunderstood today as it was when I began teaching.

I knew some of my students prayed then. They did so silently during

tests; they probably prayed at other times too. No one could have

stopped their voluntary prayers. The same is true today. Truly volun-

tary prayer has not nor cannot

be removed from public schools

despite what the critics claim.

My students and I referred to the Bible in my English classes when

it provided the basis for allusion or symbol in the literature we were

reading. No one objected then. No reasonable person would object to-

day when the Bible is studied as great literature. And it is studied as

such in hundreds of schools even though some critics charge that the

Bible was thrown out of public school by the Supreme Court, which

is a misreading of the decision.

At least one-third of my students read two to three books a month.

I encouraged them to do so. This caused the librarian in the closest

small city to call me to ask what magic formula I was using to per-

suade students to check so many books out of the library. I simply

told her that I talked about books in my classes; I got excited about

books. Some of my students did also.

My interest in books nearly caused me trouble during my first two

years of teaching. The minister in the small town in which the school

was located did not like the fact that many of my students were read-

ing and discussing not only the classics but contemporary litera-

ture. He expressed his concerns in two different sermons, calling me

by name and implying that my teaching methods were dangerous. But

40 Questions and Answers

I was totally unaware of his concerns. No one told me about the ser-

mons until after I moved to a large city school but continued to live

in the small community. Only then did several students and their par-

ents talk to me about the sermons. And they seemed embarrassed when

they talked about them. They said they refused to tell me about the

sermons before because they did not wani me to stop what I was doing.

During the three !, ears that I taught in a large junior-senior high

school, I experienced no problems with complaints about what I taught

or what I did in classes. The faculty rarely

if ever

discussed aca-

demic freedom and censorship. My colleagues and I were both amused

and embarrassed by the Indiana senator who tried to get Robin Hood

banned from the state because it was allegedly communistic. On one

occasion several of us discussed the firing of a teacher "somewhere"

for teaching The Catcher in the Rye; but the incident seemed far away,

and problems over textbooks and other teaching materials seemed to

be something that only happened "somewhere else." (That is still the

case today. Teachers and administrators, when I ask about their per-

sonal involvement in censorship incidents, inevitably tell me that they

"didn't think it could happen here." Censorship always happens "some-

where else.")

I left public school teaching shortly before attempts to remove school

and library books intensified. The McCarthy era had left its legacy of

fear. Signing a loyalty oath was standard procedure. The hunt for leftist-

leaning textbooks was under way. And Holden Caulfield had captured

the attention of students and teachers throughout the nation. The

Catcher in the Rye had entered some English classrooms as a con-

temporary classic. Some teachers lost their jobs because of Holden's

antics and language; others started teaching The Catcher 30 years ago

and have done so ever since without incident.

Such is the nature of schoolbook prctest in America. No one can

predict where it will occur; no one can foretell what book will inflame

citizens to the point that they will attempt to have it removed from

classrooms and libraries

or even have it burned. No book is safe,

I learned. Any idea is a target for someone.

But it took me years to discover that. My sojourn from the public

schools took me to university public relations for two years before I

went to Beirut, Lebanon, to teach journalism. Then I returned to Indi-

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

ana and began a long relationship with Indiana University and with

the public schools, working closely with teachers of English, speech,

and journalism.

At the beginning of the Seventies, some of the teachers who had

worked with me on developing courses of study for juniul and senior

high school English classes began calling me for help. They told me

that a few parents were challenging some of the books they were teach-

ing. Those books had been recommended in the courses of study I had

edited or helped to write, and some of the books had been taught for

years in the very schools in which they were suddenly being challenged.

I was amazed to learn that parents did not want their children reading

The Red Badge of Courage (too much violence), The Sca rtet Letter

(adultery), Siddhartha (pagan religion), and To K111 a Mockingbird

(obscene language and disrespect for parents). I began investigating

the complaints against those and other books not only in Indiana but

throughout the nation. I was alternately amused and horrified.

It is difficult to take some of the complaints seriously. One woman

objected to the teaching of Silas Marner on the grounds that she "knew

what that dirty old man is doing to that little girl. . . between chap-

ters." A school board member demanded that the lihrarian be fired

for having Making It with Mademoiselle in the school library. I un-

derstand that he withdrew his request when he learned that it was a

book of dress patterns. A parent complained that Jack and the Bean-

stalk teaches disrespect for a person in authority (the giant). And the

two most prominent textbook protesters in the nation objected to the

inclusion of P.T. Barnum's famous statement, "There's a sucker born

every minute," in a story in a textbook because Barnum's philosophy

is "skeptical" and the statement is "depressing."

I found it difficult to believe that people would actually object to

books without having read them, or without even having checked the

accuracy of the titles, or without even having talked with a teacher

to determine whether a book was actually used in a classroom or to

a librarian to determine whether it was in the school library. Even more

difficult to believe is that a few school administrators, teachers, librar-

ians, and school board members are willing to act on such objections

without becoming familiar with the material themselves.

14 4

40 Questions and Answers

After two years of studying attempts to

censor school materials, I

was asked to serve as chairman of the Committee on Censorship of

the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in 1976. Shortly

after accepting the chairmanship, I received several letters of

congratu-

lations on my appointment to chair a group that would rid the nation's

schools of objectionable books. I urged NCTE to change the

name of

the group to the Committee Against Censorship

so that there would

be no confusion about the mission of the committee.

As chairman of the NCTE committee, I received reports of complaints

about classroom and library materials across the land, including those

of the prominent textbook protesters in Texas, Mel and Norma Gabler,

the founders of Educational Research Analysts, which they call the

world's "largest textbook review clearinghouse." It did

not take me long

to learn how influential they had become through using the Texas text-

book adoption process (see questions 19, 20, and 21). I

soon discovered

that they scoured every textbook submitted for adoption in Texas,

searching for anything that did not coincide with their religious and

political points of view or with their conceptions of reality. I felt that

if I were to understand the full range of censorship of school

materi-

als, I had to meet them. I soon had that opportunity.

Shortly after the Chicago Tribune published a feature story about

my research, an associate producer of The Phil Donahue Show called

to ask me why I was attempting to censor textbooks. When I told her

that I was opposed to censorship, she asked why I had

so many tar-

gets. When I explained that the targets published in the Tribune

were

those of the people whose objections I had been studying, she

was dis-

appointed. She indicated that the producers were looking for

censors,

not for college professors who studied censorship. But when she said

that she might invite me to be on the program if I could

name a few

censors, I quickly suggested Norma and Mel Gabler.

In a letter to their followers about their invitation to be

on the pro-

gram, the Gablers proclaimed:

"Censorship" in the context of this program means all parents

who dare question any school program. We have been seiected

to represent the many parent groups who are concerned about

the consistent attacks upon Judeo-Christian moral values in library

and textbooks in public schools

. . .

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

We CANNOT censor a bock, because we're neither the authors

or editors of school books, but the word "censor" is an effective

smear term since most Americans are against censorship .

. .

Actually, we are pointing out that censorship has taken place.

Library and textbooks have been censored of practically every-

thing worthwhile, joyful, moral, uplifting, constructive and

beautiful . . . .

IN OPPOSITION will be the chairman of the CENSORSHIP

COMMITTEE of The NATIONAL COUNGL OF TEACHERS OF

ENGLISH. This organization has long been a strong proponent

of the so-called "realism" which fills currently used school books.

This means violence, street language, explicit sex, etc.

I prize that letter, and I refer to it frequently not only to raise my

spirits but to remind me of the Gabler point of view. I also prize my

experience on Donahue. The Gablers apparently felt that since there

were two of them and only one of me, they could take two-thirds of

the time, which they managed to do. Apparently, they also requested

permit.sion to have many friends in the audience who were sympathetic

to their cause. The driver of the show's limousine told me as he took

me back to the airport that there were "two busloads of censors" in

the audience. That information caused me to smile even more when

I read this paragraph from a letter the Gablers sent to their followers

two days after the broadcast:

God certainly answered prayer, so that even the studio audience

ended up almost entirely on our side, while the opposition made

statements which will likely prove embarrassing to them in the

future.

People still talk to me about that telecast of January 1978. Nearly

all who said they thought little about censorship before the telecast

indicated that the program helped them see the problems that accom-

pany attempts to remove books from school classrooms and libraries.

Nearly everyone expressed an antipathy toward censorship as a re .

sult of the show.

I debated Mel Gabler four times after that: twice on radio, once on

television in Chicago, and once in a formal debate during a conven-

tion of a professional organization in Houston. During that debate, I

used several Gabler quotations that had been printed in Texas Monthly.

40 Questions and Answers

Among them was this one, which I think is indicative of the depth of

the Gabler scholarship:

Roman Catholics do not teach the gospel, and are, therefore, not

necessarily Christians.

In his rebuttal, Mel Gabler said that the reporter had misquoted him.

I waited for the actual quotation. But Mr. Gabler simply told the au-

dience that the reporter ;tad left out the word all.

Mel Gabler told a 1980 Donahue audience that the Gabler reviews

of textbooks have been used in all 50 states and 25 foreign countries.

Their influence alone is enormous; they also have powerful allies. For

example, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, one of the founders of the Moral Majori-

ty, uses the Gablers' reviews of textbooks to show how bad the books

are; and he described the Gablers' work in Listen, America! and in

at least one other of his publications. The Rev. Tim La Have, another

founder of the Moral Majority, uses the Gablers' reviews, as well as

other sources, to prove that the public schools are "conduits to the

minds of youth, training them to be anti God, antimoral, antifamily,

anti-free enterprise and anti-American." Phyllis Schlafly, founder of

Eagle Forum and the Stop Textbook Censorship Committee, has used

the Gabler reviews to attack schoolbooks throughout the nation.

In my writinA and in my debates with schoolbook protesters, I con-

stantly point out that citizens have the right to complain about the

content of textbooks. As a parent, I have that right. If I do not like

something that my children are reading in school, I have the right to

object. But I believe that my rights as a parent extend only to my chil-

dren. If I do not like what they are reading or studying, I can ask for

an alternate assignment. But I maintain that my rights as a parent do

not extend to all the children in the classroom, or in the school, or

in the state, or in the nation.

That is one of the many differences between the schoolbook pro-

testers and the thousands of citizens who do not want teaching materi-

als and teaching methods removed willy-nilly from the public schools.

Another major difference is that most parents I know who support the

schools are unwilling to judge a book or a teacher solely on the basis

of someone else's statements. But many schoolbook protesters

whether they are nationally prominent or known only locally

are

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

willing to base their accusations on the objections of the Gablers, of

Phyllis Schlafly and the Eagle Forum, of Tim LaHaye, of the Moral

Majority, or on the objections of one of the hundreds of textbook

pro-

testing organizations that have been formed during the last decade.

So that I could better understand their concerns about schoolbooks

and their strategies to remove them, I read reams of objections and

also at least 40 books and monographs critical of public education. I

also made every attempt to meet the protesters. Fortunately,

many

opportunities presented themselves. I discussed censorship with the

Rev. Greg Dixon, then national secretary of the Moral Majority,

seven

times

once on the Today Show, once on local television, and five

times in formal debates. I debated Cal Thomas, vice president of the

Moral Majority, on CBS Nightwatch. A producer of the Mac-

Neil/Lehrer Report invited me to present my views on censorship in

opposition to those of Janet Egan, one of the founders of Parents of

Minnesota, Inc. I also had the opportunity to be interviewed for 60

Minutes, CBS Sunday Morning, The John Davidson Show, and

than 30 television programs in a dozen states. On a number of those

programs I was given the chance to express my views in an exchange

with schoolbook protesters.

Shortly after the publication of Censors in the Classroom in 1979,

I was invited to be a guest on more than 100 radio programs in

than 30 states, Great Britain, and Canada. On at least half of those

pro-

grams, which were call-in shows, I had the opportunity to exchange

views with schoolbook protesters.

My study of censorship also afforded me the opportunity to talk with

teachers, librarians, administrators, studen s, and parents in more than

30 states, including presentations on Phi Delta Kappa's Distinguished

Lecture Series. In 1982 Phi Delta Kappa with Indiana University's

School of Education and School of Continuing Studies conducted

national conference on the public schools and the First Amendment.

That was a memorable experience for me since I was privileged to

serve

as co-director of the conference, which featured an equal number of

schoolbook protesters and persons opposed to censorship.

As I met more and more persons concerned with the content of text-

books and library books, I became aware of their intense objection

to the words censor and censorship (see questions 4 and 7). I also

40 Questions and Answers

realized that those words did not refer to the variety of activity con-

cerning schoolbooks, teaching materials, and teaching methods that

was being promoted across the nation. Therefore, I began using the

term schoolbook protest movement (see questions 1 and 2).

When Derek Burleson, editor of special publications for Phi Delta

Kappa, asked me to write this book on the schoolbook protest move-

ment, he suggested that I focus on the questions that I am asked most

frequently as I talk with teachers, librarians, administrators, school

board members, students, and parents. So I selected 40 questions to

answer.

I have limited the questions and answers only to the protest of books

and materials used in public schools. Although I am very much inter-

ested in attempts to censor the student press, I have not discussed such

censorship here. That would require yet another book. Nor do I pose

questions on, or provide answers about, pornography. No court in this

land has found any book taught in the public schools to be pornograph-

ic, contrary to what some of the protesters claim. Nor has any book

used in the public schools and considered by the courts been labeled

obscene.

The answers to the 40 questions I pose obviously vary in length and

treatment, but in each case I have tried to answer them to give as com-

plete a picture of the schoolbook protest movement as I can. How-

ever, the movement is not static; it changes at least monthly if not more

frequently. There are always new targets, new tactics. and new faces.

But the basic ingredients of the movement remain the same, and I have

tried to describe them here.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Questions and Answers

1. What is the echQolhook protest movement?

Schoolbook protest movement is a term I have been using during

the last two years to describe attempts to remove or alter teaching

materials and teaching methods used in the public schools. I prefer

schoolbook protest to censorship for these reasons:

1. Attempts to remove books from school classrooms and school

libraries across the nation are not necessarily unrelated incidents. There

is a movement, inspired and promoted by dozens of organizations, that

is sweeping the country. (See questions 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23,

24, 26, and 30.)

2. Schoolbook protest encompasses the objections of individual

citizens who, without consulting others, object to a single book or to

books their children are studying. The term is also applicable to the

work of school critics who have attempted to remove, or keep from

being adopted, books and teaching methods on a nationwide or

statewide scale. Such critics include Norma and Mel Gabler and their

Educational Research Analysts, Phyllis Schlafly and her Eagle Forum

and Stop Textbook Censorship Committee, Beverly Lallaye and her

Concerned Women of America, as well as Tim LaHaye and his attacks

on the religion of secular humanism and on any books or courses that

he thinks promote that so-called religion. (See questions 14, 15, 16,

17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, and 26.)

3. Protesters dislike being called censors. They maintain that they

do not have the power to remove books from schools; they only point

out the problems in teaching materials and teaching methods. (See

questions 4 and 7.)

2 0

40 Questions and Answers

4. Not all persons who protest textbooks and library books want

them removed from the schools cos even placed on restricted shelves.

Some persons simply want to call attention to items that they do not

like or to items that they think need to be counterbalanced with other

material.

5. The term schoolbook protest movement, for me at least, can be

applied to the actual censorship of school materials as weil as to con-

sciousness raising. (See question 7.)

6. Schoolbook protest can be applied to objections to textbooks at

statewide hearings, such as those conducted in Texas, where persons

attempt to prevent the textbooks from being filopted or to have them

altered before they are adopted. It also can be applied to objections

recorded at school board meetings. (See questions 20 and 21.)

7. Schoolbook protest encompasses actual removal of books, at-

tempts to restrict their access, efforts to erase or remove specific words

or pages, as well as prior restraint (attempts to direct the work of writers

and publishers so that they will not include certain words, ideas, or

actions in their books, stories, poems, and plays).

2. When did the schoolbook protest movement begin?

From the time that students began attending public schools in large

numbers, individuals ana groups have expressed displeasure with the

content of textbooks. For example, immediately after the Civil Was,

veterans from both sides pressured publishers to change histories that

they said did not reflect their reasons for fighting at Shiloh, Bull Run,

and Gettysburg. "Some publishers surrendered to the demands of the

veterans without firing a shot. In 1867 .

. E.J. Hale and Son of New

York advertised: 'Books prepared for southern schools, by southern

authors, and therefore free from matter offensive to southern

people.' "I

"In the North, the Grand Army Record urged Union veterans to 'aid

in dashing down the cup of moral poison that our school hiszories are

holding to your youth.' A committee of the Grand Army of the Republic

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

charged in 1897 that no book then in use 'merits the unqualified en-

dorsement of this organization.' "2

After World War I, a Hearst newspaper columnist warned Americans

about "Anglicized" histories. That writer used a technique still used

today: he counted the number of lines devoted to persons he liked and

compared them to the number about persons he disliked. Then he ex-

pressed his outrage in print

Various organizations attacked schoolbooks after World War I. The

Daughters of the American Revolution denounced one American his-

tory because it did not "place enough emphasis on military history

to make good soldiers out of children." The Veterans of Foreign Wars

maintained by the end of the Twenties that the organization had "elimi-

nated all of the objectionable features" in American histories and was

turning its attention to modern European volumes. The Ku Klux Klan

warned that the public school system was being attacked, through its

textbooks, by "papists and antiChristian Jews of the Bolshevik Socialist

stripe." Anti-evolutionists attacked books that they maintained were

filled with Darwinian ideas. Other groups expressed concern and ex-

erted pressure on publishers against books that they considered to be

too favorable toward unions or big business, too soft on socialism or

communism, or too demeaning of the "founders of the Republic, or

the men who preserved the union."3

Schoolbook pressures rose sharply after World War II. Individuals

and organizations looked for books that treated communism favora-

bly. In Indiana, a state senator tried to rid the entire state of The Ad-

ventures of Robin Hood, which she thought was a communist menace.

Other groups became concerned with the new realism in novels that

found their way into English classrooms. When Holden Caulfield

checked into public schools across the nation, he brought trouble with

him. Some teachers were fired for teaching about Holden's adolescent

antics in The Catcher in the Rye. Other teachers considered the book

to be a contemporary classic, began teaching it in the early Fifties, and

have been teaching it without any negative comment ever since.

But nearly all of the schoolbook protests before the early Seventies

were free of violence. Individuals and orgainizations became emotion-

al about schoolbooks, and frequently heated words seared school board

22 12

40 Questions and Answers

meetings and scorched the offices of publishers. But schoolbooks were

not burned and people were ncr_ hurt.

In 1973, the school board in Drake, North Dakota, confiscated three

books taught by a young English teacher. When the board ordered

copies of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five burned, there was a

nationwide outrage about a book-burning in America. As a result, the

Drake school board decided not to have copies of James Dickey's

Deliverance and a volume of short stories thrown into the school's

furnace.4.

Less than a year after the book-burning in Drake, the United States

experienced its first schoolbook war. The "battle of the books"5 be-

gan when a first-term school board member and wife of a self-ordained

minister launched a vigorous campaign against the English textbooks

submitted for adoption in Kanawha County, West Virginia. To show

their displeasure with the books, coal miners wert on strike. Twenty-

seven ministers denounced the books from their pulpits and in public

meetings and rallies; 10 ministers supported the school board mem-

bers who voted for the books. Snipers fired at school buses and, on

one occasion, bullets hit a state police car that was escorting a bus

filled with children. Gunmen wounded at least two persons and shot

at others. Teachers repeatedly received threats on their lives. Textbook

protesters firebombed an elementary school. Angry citizens dynamited

at least three cars, vandalized school buses, and blasted windows in

the board of education building with shotguns.6 And the nation's most

prominent schoolbook critics

Norma and Mel Gabler of Longview,

Texas

flew to Charleston for what their biographer called "a whirl-

wind six-da; speaking campaign"7 against the 325 English language

arts textbooks that had been tentatively approved by the Kanawha

County school board.

A free-lance writer who reported on the nine-month dispute called

it "in part a class war, a cultui al war, a religious war. It is a struggle

for power and authority that has sundered a peaceful community into

rigid and fearful factions. And it is a complex and profoundly disturb.

ing reflection of the deep fissures that crisscross American society."8

Since 1974, hundreds of less vioient skirmishes over textbooks, films,

tradebooks, courses, and teaching methods used in the nation's schools

have "sundered peaceful communities." Disputes over classroom and

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

library materials have erupted in every state, in rural

as well as

metropolitan school districts, in innercity and suburban neighbor-

hoods. The battles have left long-lasting

scars and, in many instances,

wounds that will never heal.

3. Is there evidence to support the claim that the

num-

ber of incidents of schoolbook protest is rising

an-

nually?

Since 1966 Lee Burress, professor of English at the University of

WisconsinStevens Point, has been conducting surveys of attempts

censor school library and classroom materials. His fourth national sur-

vey, conducted in 1982, indicated that 34% of those surveyed reported

challenges to books. The previous high was 30% in 1977. The 1973

figure was 28%; and the first figure he reported, in 1966,

was 20%.1

In a conversation with me in 1982, Professor Burress predicted, based

on the results of his surveys, that three out of five teachers of English

in Wisconsin alone would experience attempts to

censor classroom

materials within five years. He noted that his 1982

survey yielded a

fact he had not uncovered before: 17% of the respondents noted the

involvement of locally organized pressure groups in attempts

to re-

move materials from libraries and classrooms. He reported that in previ-

ous surveys the figure had been less than 1%.2

Another source of data on schoolbook protest activity is the Office

of Intellectual Freedom (OlF) of the American Library Association.

During the early Seventies, approximately 100 censorship incidents

were reported yearly to the OW. By 1976 the figure had risen to slightly

less than 200 and climbed to nearly 300 in 1977.3 Shortly after the

1980 presidential election, Judith F. Krug, director of the 01F, reported

a fivefold increase in censorship incidents reported to her office. She

later revised her estimate to a threefold increase, which would

mean

roughly 900 reported incidents a year.4

The results of a survey conducted by three professional organiza-

tions in 1980 indicate that the number of challenges to school library

40 Questions and Answers

and classroom materials had increased from 1 September 1978 until

the date of the survey. The report on the

survey included these

statements:

More than one in,five (22.4%) of the 1,891 respondents, overall

or nearly one administrator in five (19.2%) and nearly one libmr

ian in three (29.5%)

reported that there had been some

challenges to classroom or library materials in their school(s)

during the period since September 1, 1978.

Of 494 respondents reporting challenges, half (50.6%) found the

rt.te of such incidents unchanged between the 1976.1978 and

1978-1980 periods, but one in four (26.5%) indicated that the

rate of challenges was higher in the more recent period (as corn.

pared with 9.1% who responded "lower," and 13.8% who

were "not

certain").5

In Oregon, 60% of the respondents to a survey conducted by the

Oregon Educational Media Association reported challenges

to class-

room and school library materials during the period from 1977 to

1982.6 Surveying the same period, 1977-1982, the Association for In.

diana Media Educators reported that 47% of the respondents had

ex-

perienced one or more challenges to classroom and school library

materials. Slightly more than 30% of the Indiana librarians reported

three or more challenges during the five-year period.1 The results of

a survey conducted by the Ohio Council International Reading Associ-

ation indicated that 46% of the responding elementary school teachers,

librarians, and administrators reported attempts to

remove classroom

and school library materials during the previous year.8

In its two national surveys, People for the American Way discovered

"attempts to remove, alter, or restrict students' access to

a wide varie .

ty of educational materials in 48 of the 50 states." In the preface to

its 1983-84 report, People for the American Way noted that:

during the past school year censorship activity was widespread,

pervasive, and better organized than ever before. It was initiated

by a variety of sources: parents, teachers, school officials, school

board members, librarians, civic groups, publishers, local clergy

and church groups. In at least 20 percent of the incidents reported

in 1983-84, local protest groups received assistance from nation.

ally organized Far Right censorship groups such

as Phyllis

Schlafly's Eagle Forum, the national Pro-Family Forum, Mel and

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Norma Gabler's Educational Research Analysts, Jerry Falwell's

Moral Majority, and Tim and Beverly LaHaye's Concerned Wom-

en for America.9

But reported incidents represent only a small portion of the num-

ber of actual schoolbook protests each year. For every incident that

is reported, some scholars estimate that 25 go unreported. As more

and more data are gathered, other scholars estimate that the

unreported-reported ratio is closer to 50 to one.

4. Why do the schoolbook protesters maintain that they

are not censors?

During two different appearances on Donahue, Norma and Mel Ga-

bler (see question 19) strongly denied that they are censors.' In her

radio, television, and public appearances, Mrs. Gabler frequently points

out that "only people in authority" can censor books. She maintains

that she and her husband "only have a voice" in the textbook selec-

tion process in Texas. She notes that her "right to dissent" has been

called censorship; and that, she believes, is wrong. Mel Gabler points

out that the authors, editors, and publishers are the "real censors" who

"have already censored out" of textbooks "all that is good, beautiful,

true, helpful, and friendly."2

The Gablers are not alone in expressing their disdain for the term

censorship when it is applied to what they do. All of the schoolbook

protesters I have met

from the political and religious right or left

proclaim that they are not censors. They rely on these dictionary

definitions to support their assertion: an official who examines publi-

cations for objectionable matter, an official who reads communications

and deletes forbidden material.

Additional definitions are needed to describe today's activities. Peo-

ple who call for the removal of books, people who want the classrooms

cleansed of everything they do not like, people who travel the coun-

try urging others to rid the schools of "objectionable" content

such

people may be appropriately called censors whether they like the term

or not.

2 6

40 Qttes'icns and Answers

Six years ago I included the names of two organizations and a very

brief description of some of their activities in a chapter that I

wrote

for a book on censorship. The leaders of the organizations

were en-

raged. One wrote to the publisher of the book, demanding that the

publisher "shut Ed Jenkinson up." The organization then insisted it

had never been involved

any activity that could be called censor-

ship. The second organization sent a telegram to the publisher, urging

it to cease distributing the book immediately and proclaiming that the

protesting organization had never been involved in any censorious

activity.

Censors do not seem to recognize their own work.

The words

censor

and

censorship

have strong negative connotations,

and schoolbook protesters who demand the removal of books by

ap-

plying pressure on persons in authority dislike those words. (See

ques-

tion 5.)

5. What is censorship when that term is applied to

school materials?

Censorship is any act intended to keep students from reading,

see-

ing, or hearing any materials that some person deems objectionable.

It is also the attempt to rid the schools of courses, teaching methods,

and ideas. It takes many forms, including these:

1. The removal of books

without submitting them to a full review

process

from classrooms or libraries because someone called the

books objectionable (see questions 33, 37, and 39). It is an all too com-

mon practice in America for someone to object to a book without hav-

ing read it

or without even having seen it. Unfortunately, it is not

unusual for a person in authority

superintendent, school board mem-

ber, principal, teacher, or librarian

to remove a challenged book with-

out having read it or having submitted it to a duly authorized review

(..-ommittee.

2. The blacking out of words with a felt-tip pen or other instrument.

An English teacher used a felt-tip pen to cover the word crap in all

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

of the copies of an English literature anthology. She would have been

disappointed with the results of her work had she heard the students

guess which word was blacked out. Not a one thought the offensive

word was crap. Razor blades and scissors also are used to remove words

or passages.

3. The gluing together of pages that someone considered to be offen-

sive. An administrator pasted together the few pages dealing with sex

in a health textbook. The community indicated that it did not approve

of his action.

4. One administrator commissioned an artist to put shorts on the

little boy who wanders around in the nude in Maurice Sendak's very

popular In the Night Kitchen.

5. A school board member admitted that she checked out of the

school library the books that she did not like, and then failed to return

them. Rather, she sent the librarian a check to cover the cost of the

bc...oks. She was severely reprimanded for her actions.

6. A principal told me that he had never experienced censorship

in his 30 years as an administrator. Then he paused and confided: "Oh,

once a minister complained about a book of mythology. I think it was

the one by Edith Hamilton. Anyway, the minister got so angry about

the book that I just took it out of the library when the school was closed

and threw it in the furnace." An elementary school librarian became

concerned when she noted a very high number of missing books.

Through quiet investigation and observation she discovered that the

principal removed any book that a citizen objected to and threw it in

the fire. He apparently never questioned any challenger nor defended

a book; he simply destroyed it.

7. In Texas, persons who challenge the textbooks submitted for adop-

tion write Bills of Particulars in which they cite objections, line by line,

paragraph by paragraph. If the Texas Commissioner of Education, af-

ter consulting with the board, agrees with any of the objections, he

informs the publisher to make changes before the books are adopted

(see questions 19, 20, and 21).

8. Protest groups exert pressure on publishers to keep certain materi-

als out of books (evolution, for example). Publishers, in turn, may tell

authors to avoid writing about certain "objectionable" ideas. This is

prior restraint.

40 Questions and Answers

9. Teachers and librarians practice self-censorship when they refuse

to teach a book or order one because they discover that it has been

challenged elsewhere.

10. Legislators at the rate or national level practice censorship when

they prepare and pass legislation designed to keep certain courses and

books out of the public schools (see question 30).

6. What are some of the results of attempts to remove

teaching materials from public schools?

Censorship has a chilling effect on the academic climate in a school

during and after an incident. Commenting on the Warsaw, Indiana, in

cident, a counselor noted that teachers were afraid to discuss controver-

sial issues for several years after the school board turned a classroom

set of textbooks over to senior citizens for a public burning and after

the board dismissed two teachers. He said thi 2 the quality of educa.

tion suffered RS a result.' Similar comments have been made about

the results of censorship incidents in other communities. (For

a par-

tial listing of censorship incidents, see question 15.)

One result of censorship that does not please schoolbook protesters

is that censored books or other materials frequently become best sellers

among the very persons who were not supposed to read them. In War-

saw, Indiana, for example, students told me that they drove as far as

60 miles to other school districts to get a copy of Sidney Simon's Values

Clarffication, the textbook that had been burned. The author of 365

Days, a book that had been banned in Baileyville, Maine, reported that

4,000 copies of the book were sold in Maine alone during the two

months following the trial about the removal of the book.2 (The court

ordered the School Committee to return the book to the school library.)

John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath became a best seller in Kanawha,

Iowa, after it had been banned from two classes. "Bookstore managers

and librarians in Kanawha and surrounding Iowa communities reported

that readers grabbed every copy in sight. The Kanawha Public Library,

which owns only one copy of the 1939 novel, borrowed a dozen copies

to meet reader demand."3

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

7. What is the difference between censorship and selec-

tion? Between censorship and consciousness raising?

More than 30 years ago, Lester Asheim made this oft-quoted distinc-

tion between censorship and selection:

Selection ...begins with a presumption in favor of liberty of

thought; censorship, with a presumption in favor of thought con-

trol. Selection's approach to the book is positive, seeking its val.

ue in the book as a book and in the book as a whole. Censorship's

approach is negative, seeking for vulnerable characteristics wher-

ever they can be found

anywhere within the book, or even out-

side it. Selection seeks to protect the right of the reader to read;

censorship seeks to protect

not the right but the reader him-

self from the fancied effects of his reading. The selector has faith

in the intelligence of the reader; the censor has faith only in his

own.

In other words, selection is democratic while censorship is

authoritarian, and in our democracy we have traditionally tended

to put our trust in the selector rather than in the censor.'

Censors like to point out that there is little difference between selec-

tion and censorship. Or as one schoolbook protester noted on a Dona-

hue Show, "One nian's selection is another man's censorship."2

When he was state superintendent of schools in California, Mai

Rafferty wrote:

All school people censor things all the time. We are speaking

about educational censorship and, of course, in education we don't

call it censorship, we call it screening. This is one of the things

we professional schoolmen get paid for, and if we didn't do it, we

would be out of a job?

But there are these basic differences between censors and selectors:

Censors

Selectors

Censors search for what they

want to discard.

3 0

Selectors examine material,

looking for that which best

presents their educational ob-

jeztves.

40 Questions and Answers

Censors judge a book on the ba-

sis of a few passages they dislike.

Censors rely on the reviews of

other censors to get rid of books.

Censors know what is right for

all people; therefore, they want

books that represent their point

of view.

Selectors judge the book as a

whole.

Selectors rely on reviews pub-

lished in professional journals.

Selectors look for books that rep-

resent a variety of points of view.

Censors look outside the book

Selectors judge the book on its

for reasons to reject it. For exam-

own merits.

ple, the author's religion or

politics.

Julia T. Bradley, an attorney who wrote a detailed analysis of the

distinctions between censorship and selection, concluded in her

arti-

cle for the Connecticut Law Review:

Despite school board protestations tc the contrary, censorship and

selection are distinguishable. Censorship is an act whereby

one

group imposes its value judgment upon another and permanent-

ly limits access to certain resources. Selection, on the other hand,

is a process; the only inherent constraint upon choosing among

all published materials is that of budget Where censorship

occurs,

decisions are absolute; a book is unsuitable. In the selection

pro-

cess, choices are relat;ve; is this book more useful, for varied rea-

sons, than another? Moreover, where censorship occurs, one group

permanently terminates another's right to judge a book for itself.

Where selection operates without restraints, a book which read

ers consider "bad" will die of neglect4

Consciousness raising on the part of an individual

or organization

is an attempt to make textbooks and books for children

more represen-

tative of women and minorities. Several professional organizations have

requested that publishers establish guidelines

so that women and

minorities will be treated fairly and accurately.

One attempt at consciousness raising comes from the National Edu-

cation Association in a brochure titled "How Fair Are Your Children's

Textbooks." A portion of that brochure is printed below:

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

How fair are your children's textbooks? Not just history or so-

cial studies texts, but all the books they use. Students form ideas

from everything they see

the stories in the primer, the exam-

ples in the spelling book, the illustrations in the math and natu-

ral science books, the selections and commentary in the

literature books. Ask yourself the following questions about your

children's textbooks:

Do they seem to assume a white, Christian audience?

Do they continue to romanticize American history, glorifying the

"Manifest Destiny" of the westward movement and glossing over

the fact that Indians and chicanos were "cleared" from their

lands like trees in the way of "progress"?

Do minorities, when mentioned at aP, appear as social problems

to be solved rather than as valuable contributors to our pluralis-

tic society?

Are Indians described in degrading "outgroup" terms (roaming,

ferocious, primitive)? Are Indian defeats called battles, Indian

victories massacres?

Do the stories in the readers feature suburban families of four,

with briefcase-toting fathers and nonworking mothers? (Many

children who cannot see anything familiar in such stories quite

understandably decide that reading is not for them.)

Are problems in the math books illustrated with pictures show-

ing boys earning money and building things, while girls spend

money, cook, and sew?

Do the history books hail pre-1880 immigrants to America as

pioneers and settlers and describe later arrivals (particularly non-

Europeans) as swarms and teeming hordes?

Do the authors try to give a "balanced" treatment of the "pros

and cons" of slavery? (This is about as acceptable as a

"balanced" treatment of Nazism would be.)

Do the illustrations in tha readers and social studies texts fail

to show minority group members or women in pozitions of

authority or power?

Do world history books first mention Africa in connection with

the slave trade, neglecting its great early cMlizations?

32 22

40 Questions and Answers

Do the evolution charts in the biology texts end with a white male,

as if he were somehow more truly evolution's end product than

a woman, or a black man, or an Indian, or a chicano, or an

Oriental?

Do the history and social studies texts still advance the melting

pot theory, whereby all minority groups are expected to "melt"

into the ways of the majority? (The truth of our national charac-

ter is mutticulturalism; uniculturalism is a myth.)

Do "revised" textbooks offer only tokenism (tinting of Cauca-

sian features in illustrations or perfunctory inclusion of the same

few black heroes, as if no others existed)?

If your answer to questions like these is yes, the myths are

being advanced, and reality is being avoided.5

Where does consciousness raising end and censorship begin? That

question troubles scholars who study attempts to censor school materi-

als. When persons involved in consciousness raising call

either overt-

ly or covertly

for the removal of books, they have crossed the line

and have begun acting like censors. When such persons derrinnd that

certain works not be published, they have practiced prior restraint,

which is a form of censorship.

8. Can censorship of school materials

ever he good?

Some persors argue that since challenges to books sometimes

cause

teachers to re-examine what they are doing, the results

are good. If

a protest results in a publisher's revising a book to accommodate the

protester's complaint, then some would say that censorship is good.

Others argue that censorship has a nqative, "chilling" effect

on the

academic c'zirnate and is therefore bad.

Censorship incidents tend to become intensely emotional conflicts.

Both sides frequently get hurt in a variety of ways. Communities be-

come divided. "Friends" sometimes stop speaking to members of either

party in the conflict. Wounds are slow to heal and leave long-lasting

scars.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

I have talked with at least 60 teachers, librarians, administrators,

school board members, parents, and students who have been involved

in some form of schoolbook protest

either as a protester or as a

defender of a book, a teaching method, a film, or a course. All indicated

that they wanted to forget the experience but found it very hard to

do so. At least half of the teachers with whom I talked have left the

teaching profession. Unfortunately for the profession, all were good

some even excellent

teachers. (See questions 2 and 32.)

Attempts to prevent students from reading certain materials al-

together may have an effect opposite to the one the censors wanted.

Students who might not otherwise read a specific book will frequently

do so if it is banned. (See question 6.)

9. Why do opponents of the schoolbook protest move-

ment invoke the First Amendment?

The Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional rights of students and

teachers, and specifically the protection of the First Amendment, in

the landmark case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community

School District,' which involved three students who were suspended

for wearing black armbands to protest the U.S. government's policy

in Vietnam. The Supreme Court made this frequently quoted state-

ment: "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed

their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the

schoolhouse gate."2

The limiting of access to knowledge in a school library becomes a

First Amendment issue (see question 12). The student's rights to know

and the teacher's right to academic freedom are also First Amendment

issues (see questions 10 and 11).

3 4 24

40 Questions and Answers

10. What are the students' rights to learn?

All children in the United States have a right

indeed, an obliga-

tion

to attend school for about 10 years. "Courts have recognized

that the right to an education is fundamental and that the removal of

a student from school is a severe punishment, which school officials

have the right to administer only in cases of serious wrongdoing and

only with strict safeguards against arbitrariness and unfairness."' The

courts also have recognized, in some instances, that the "right to

education means the right to a good education."2

In 1924 the Supreme Court ruled that parents have the right

to di-

rect the education of their children,3 and it essentially reaffirmed that

right in a 1972 decision.4 But the Supreme Court also has recognized

that students have constitutional rights. Tinker

v. Des Moines Indepen-

dent Community School District stands as the beacon, signalling that

students have protected constitutional rights and

specifically in this

case

protected First Amendment rights. Four passages from the

Tinker decision have special significance in the consideration of

stu-

dent rights:

It can hardly be argued that either students

or teachers shed their

constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the

schoolhouse gate.

The District Court ccncluded that the action of the school

authorities was reasonable because it was based on their fear of

disturbance from the wearing of the armbands. But, in

our system,

undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance is not enough

to overcome the right to freedom of expression. Any departure

from absolute regimentation may cause trouble. Any variation

from the majority's opinion may inspire fear. Any word spoken,

in class, in the lunchroom, or on the campus, that deviates from

the views of another person may start an argument or cause

a dis-

turbance. But our Constitution says that we must take this risk,

and our history says that it is this sort of hazardous freedom

this kind of openness

that is the basis of our national strength

and of the independence and vigor of Americans who grow

and live in this relatively permissive, often disputatious, society.

In order for the state in the person of school officials to justify

prohibition of a particular expression of opinion, it must be able

The Schoolbook Protest Movemeru

to show that its action was caused by something more than a mere

desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always ac-

company an unpopular viewpoint. Certainly where there is no find-

ing and no showing that engaging in the forbidden conduct would

"materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of

appropriate discipline in the operation of the school," the prohi-

bition cannot be sustained.

in our system, state-operated schools may not be enclaves of

totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority

over their students. Students in school as well as out of school

are "persons" under our Constitution. They are possessed of fun-

damental rights which the State must respect, just as they them-

selves must respect their obligations to the State. In our system,

students may not be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only

that which the State chooses to communicate. They may not be

confined to the expression of those sentiments that are officially

approved. In the absence of a specific showing of constitutionally

valid reasons to regulate their speech, students are entitled to free-

dom of expression of their views.5

Protected First Amendment rights, as designated in Tinker and oth.

er cases, provide students with the rights "to know" and to read. As

attorney Julia T. Bradley notes: "A student's right to read, and thus

to have available in a school library a full range of materials which

reflect differing literary styles, and differing social, political, and reli-

gious views, is a variant of a constitutional doctrine described as the

'right to receive information'."6 As a result of her reading of case law,

Bradley states: "Students can challenge a school board's removal of

a book from the school library not because they have the right to read

that particular work from that particular outlet, but because the book

represents their right not to have access to books made more difficult

or choices of reading material restricted arbitrarily."7

The courts' recognition of the student's protected constitutional

rights, independent of the rights of parents to direct the education of

their children, has resulted in situations in which two sets of rights

have come into conflict. The rights of students have also precipitated

conflicts with school boards and school administrators who have not

been fully cognizant of the courts' current attention to those rights.

(See questions 11, 12, and 13.)

36 26

40 Questions and Answers

In one Supreme Court case involving the First Amendment, Justice

Louis Brandeis included the following statement of James Madison,

which is relevant to the First Amendment rights of students:

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean

to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power

which knowledge gives. A popular government without popular

information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to farce

or tragedy, or, perhaps both.8

1 1 .

What is academic freedom? Does it apply to

elementary and secondary school teachers? And

what have the courts said about academic freedom

for public school teachers?

Until the 1960s the courts had not been involved in the issue of aca-

demic freedom for public school teachers. Academic freedom was

primarily considered as a right of college professors. But recently the

courts have ruled in a few cases whether teachers should have the right

to control course content, course materials, and teaching methods. And

public school teachers have gone to court to determine the extent of

their rights to teach and to express themselves.

Critics of academic freedom for public school teachers like to quote

these three sentences from the judge's decision in Maillowc v. Kiley:

"The faculty of a secondary school does not have the independent tra-

ditions, the broad discretions as to teaching methods, not usually the

intellectual qualifications, of university professors. Among secondary

school teachers there are often many persons with little experience.

Some teachers and most students ha-v e limited intellectual and emo-

tional maturity." The judge also said: "Most parents, students, school

boards, and members of the community usually expect the secondary

school to concentrate on transmitting basic information, teaching the

best that is known and thought in the world,' training by established

techniques, and, to some extent at least, indoctrinating in the mores

of the surrounding society." The judge noted that secondary schools

27 3 7

The Sch Dolbook Protest Movement

are not "open forums in which mature adults, already habituated to

social restraints, exchange ideas on a level of parity." The judge

ex-

pressed his opinion that "it cannot be accepted as a premise that the

student is voluntarily in the classroom and willing to be exposed to

a teaching method which, though reasonable, is not approved by the

school authorities or by the weight of professional opinion."2

Mailloux, the teacher plaintiff, was not dismissed, however. The judge

held that the "attempted dismissal of Mailloux violated the constitu-

tional procedural right recognized by Keefe and Parducci

the right

of a teacher not to be dismissed for using a 'reasonable' teaching meth-

od unless he or she has been put on notice not to use that method."3

In a frequently quoted article in a law journal, Stephen R. Goldstein

challenged academic freedom for secondary school teachers. He

wrote

that "cases involving restrictions on teachers' rights of curricular

con-

trol are often erroneously viewed as censorship cases when the real

issue is who should make curricular choices given the fact that some-

one has to make choices. With regard to this issue, the arguments that

the Constitution allocates curricular decision making authority to the

teacher are not persuasive."4

Goldstein rejected both professionalism and the First Amendment

as arguments in behalf of academic freedom for public school teachers.

In refuting the First Amendment argument, he wrote: "The freedom

of expression justification for teacher control is premised

on an ana-

lytical model of education which views school as a market place of

ideas. There is no historical or precedential basis, however, for

con-

cluding that the market place of ideas model is constitutionally

com-

pelled over :he traditional value inculcation model. Thus, in the final

analysis, teachers' constitutional rights, in and out of the classroom,

do not extend beyond the First Amendment rights of all citizens."5

In a significant case involving academic freedom of secondary school

teachers, Judge Richard P. Matsch refuted Goldstein's argument with

these words: "To restrict the opportunity for involvement in an

open

forum for the free exchange of ideas would not only foster

an unac-

ceptable elitism, it would also fail to complete the development of those

not going on to college, contrary to our constitutional commitment

to equal opportunity. Effective citizenship in a participatory democra-

cy must not be dependent upon advancement toward college degrees.

38 28

40 Questions and Answers

Consequently, it would be inappropriate to conclude that academic

freedom is required only in the colleges and universities."6

Judge Matsch refuted Goldstein's argument that teachers are "essen-

tially, extensions of their employers." If teachers must follow only the

wishes of the majority as reflected by the school board and school

authorities, the result would be tyranny. "The tyranny of the majority

is as contrary to the fundamental principles of the Constitution as the

authoritarianism of an autocracy."7

The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to hear a case involving academic

freedom in the public schools, but the lower courts have begun to recog-

nize the need for academic freedom in the schools. Two cases are par-

ticularly significant. In Keefe v. Geanakos, the First Circuit Court held

that a teacher had been improperly dismissed for assigning an Atlan-

tic Monthly article that contained a taboo word. The court concluded

that the principles of academic freedom embodied in the Constitution

barred the teacher's dismissa1.8 In its decision, the court included this

quotation from the Supreme Court case of Wiemann v. Updegraff.

"Such unwarranted inhibition upon the free spirit of teachers affects

not only those who .

. are immediately before the Court. It has an un-

mistakable tendency to chill that free play of the spirit which all

teachers ought especially to cultivate and practice."9

In Parducci v. Rutland, a high school teacher of English was dis-

missed for being insubordinate when she refused to comply with su-

periors' orders that she never again teach Kurt Vonnegut's short story,

"Welcome to the Monkey House."I8 Two of the administrators in the

school district called the story "literary garbage," and they claimed

that its philosophy favored killing off old people and advocated free

sex. They also told the teacher that three students asked to be excused

from the assignment and that several parents complained about the

stoiy. When the teacher did not follow the administrators' orders, the

school board dismissed her on the grounds that the story had a "dis-

ruptive effect" on the school, and that she had refused "counseling and

advice of the school principal," and was therefore guilty of "insubordi-

nation."II

The court upheld the teacher's right to teach the story and denied

the school board the right to dismiss her. The court found that the

story was appropriate for high school juniors and that it was not cb-

3 y-.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

scene. The court also noted that Vonnegut was not advocating killing

the elderly but that he was satirizing the depersonalization of man in

society.12 In Parducci, the court partially answered this question:

Should school officials have the power to decide what should be taught

and what should be banned? The court declared that the Vonnegut

story, as judged by other works that the students read in and out of

school, was not obscene. The court also found that the assignment of

the short story was not disruptive to the school; in fact, the court noted

that it was met with apathy by most of the students, except the three

who asked to be excused from the assignment.13

The courts have begun to recognize that the First Amendment pro-

vides a measure of academic freedom for public school teachers. The

courts also have attempted to balance the rights of teachers, parents,

students, and the state.14 Noting that the courts have treated academic

freedom for public school teachers more as a protected "interest" than

a "right," Martha M. McCarthy and Nelda H. Cambron caution that the

courts have preferred to view each case individually. "Therefore,

teachers must rely on the various judicial decisions for general guid-

ance only." And teachers should be "aware of the relationship betwcen

the particular materials or teaching methods employed and the course

being taught. If methods or materials are completely unrelated to

course objectives, their use would not be viewed as legally pro-

tected."15

The courts have not always decided in favor of teachers and their

claim to academic freedom

particularly when the teachers have

departed from their assigned subject matter or have used unaccepta-

ble teaching methods. For example, the courts have decided that a

teacher could not discuss sex in an all-male speech class,16 that a

teacher could not discuss politics in an economics c1ass,17 that a

teacher could not discuss his disapproval of ROTC in an algebra

class,18 and that teachers have no constitutional rights to use unortho-

dox teaching methods.19

4 0

40 Questions and Answers

12. How have the courts responded to di

censorship

of school materials?

Human beings preside in the courts, and human beings do not agree

on all matters. Thus it is not surprising that the courts have not been

uniform in their decisions involving the removal of books and other

teaching materials from public school classrooms and libraries. The

courts do tend to agree that they prefer not to become involved in

debates over educational objectives and practices, leaving such mat-

ters to school boards, unless they believe that specific constitutional

rights have been violated. But when they do become involved, their

decisions are not always predictable, as the following brief considera-

tion of selected cases indicates.

Piri Thomas portrayed Harlem as a very unpleasant place to live in

Down These Mean Streets. He used language and described incidents

that provoked a group of parents in New York's School District 25 to

request that the book be removed from the shelves of several school

libraries. In response to the request, the district board conducted an

open hearing in which all but two of 73 speakers favored retention

of the book, either on literary or educational grounds. But the board

voted 5 to 3 to remove the book from the district's junior high school

libraries. Six weeks after the superintendent carried out the board's

order, the board modified its decision in a public meeting. The board

said that libraries that had purchased the book could keep it, but it

limited the loan of the book to parents of students attending the schools

not to the students themselves)

The district court dismissed, without a hearing, a complaint about

restricting the circulation of the book filed by a group of parents,

teachers, students, and a school librarian. The Second Circuit Court

of Appeals unanimously affirmed the lower court's decision, noting

violation of constitutional rights and stating that someone had to take

the responsibility for determining what will be in a library collection.

It also observed that shouts of book burning could hardly elevate an

"intramural strife to first amendment constitutional proportions."

Otherwise, "there would be a constant intrusion of the judiciary into

the internal affairs of the school."2

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

When the plaintiffs appealed the Second Circuit Court's decision,

the Supreme Court refused to review the case. In his dissenting opin.

ion, Justice William 0. Douglas made a telling point when he wrote:

"What else can the School Board now decide it does not like? How

else will its sensibilities be offended? Are we sending children to school

to be educated by the norms of the School Board or are we educating

our youth to shed the prejudices of the past, to explore all forms of

thought, and to find solutions to our world's problems?"3

The above case, President's Council, District 25 v. Community

School Bd. No 25, is cited frequently by those who attempt to have

books removed from libraries and classrooms. But according to stu .

dents of the First Amendment, the case did not answer the crucial ques-

tions in such matters since the courts chose to treat the incident as

a matter of shelving and unshelving books. In his analysis of the deci-

sion, Robert M. O'Neil, president of the University of Virginia, observed

that the "insensitivity of the Second Circuit's disposition

. . . is under-

standable . . . because the case was one of first impression. The simple

fact is that no constitutional decisions have defined the relative rights

and responsibilities of public libraries and their patrons."4 In a law

journal article, O'Neil concluded: "If the citizenry is to be fully informed

and if the primary functions of government are to be exercised by a

responsible and knowledgeable electorate, then the library should be

as unfettered as the press, the broadcast media, and the universities."5

Writing in the Connecticut Law Review, Julia T. Bradley made these

observ,Itions about President's Cou.lcil:

The court, in focusing on the issue of "who should decide," failed

to discuss the substantive nature of the hoard's decision. As a re

sult, President's Council is insensitive to the realities of the situ-

ation. Down These Mean Streets had been chosen to expose its

readers to an environment tmlike their own. The board removed

the book solely because its colloquial language and descriptions

of unpleasant scenes offended some people in the community.

The President's Council opinion sidesteps the constitutional is.

sile: What are proper criteria under the first amendment for choos

ing or removing books from a school library? While not capable

of precise definition, gc.,teral guidelines can be established. For

example, the final decisionmaker should use stundards based on

the usefulness of a book in relation to the educational needs of

40 Questions and Answers

students. Arbitrary criteria, such as personal dislike of a book's

language or ideas or unsubstantiated fear of some harmful effect,

should be disregarded. Because it ignored these questions, Presi-

dent's

Council

is an inadequate guide for courts facing other in-

cidents of censorship in school libraries."6

The second and only other case involving a censorship incident that

has gone to the Supreme Court is Pico v. Board of Education, Island

Trees Union Free School District. This case involved

an incident on

Long Island, not far from the site of the President's Council

case. How-

ever, in Pico 11 books, including Down These Mean Streets, were in-

volved. After three members of the school board of Island Trees

attended a meeting of Parents of New York

United (PONY-U), the

school board voted to remove these 11 books from school libraries:

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous, A Reader for Writers edited by Jerome

W. Archer, A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich by Alice Childress,

Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver, Best Short Stories by Negro Writers

by Langston Hughes, Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge, The Fixer by

Bernard Malamud, The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris, Down These

Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut,

and Black Boy by Richard Wright.

At the PONY-U meeting, the board members said they "learned of

books found in schools throughout the country which

were anti-

American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and just plain filthy."7 Two

board members entered a school library at night and looked through

the card catalog to determine that nine of the books

were available.

The board gave lists of the objectionable books to the school librari-

ans and ordered them to remove the titles from the shelves. On learn-

ing that Bernard Malamud's The Fixer was used in an English class,

the principal removed all copies from the classroom and storage clos-

et. Laughing Boy and A Reader for Writers, the two books available

in the junior high school library, were removed from the shelves.8

The school board did not follow its own policies for reviewing and

removing books from classrooms or libraries. The board's action stirred

sufficient controversy in the community to cause it to appoint

a com-

mittee of four parents and four teachers to review the books. As

a re-

sult of the recommendation of the review committee, the board

returned two titles, Laughing Boy and Black Boy, to the school library

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

but removed all others despite the review committee's vote to retain

Go Ask Alice. The Fixer, and Best Short Stories by Negro Writers.

The board also restricted access to Black Boy to those students who

had written permission from their parents to borrow the book.9

Five students in the Island Trees district filed suit against the school

board in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

The suit claimed that the board, by removing nine books from school

libraries, violated both New York and U.S. constitutional guarantees

of freedom of expression. In an amicus brief filed by the American

Jewish Committee and other organizations, the authors of the brief

noted that they were astounded that The Fixer "was banned because

it contained anti-Semitic references. That assertion can lead to only

one of two conclusions: that its author is either illiterate or dishonest.

The Fixer clearly condemns anti-Semitism, as it does the authoritari-

an society which is the seed bed of anti-Semitism."10

The district court judge relied heavily on President's Council to rule

in favor of the defendant school board. Judge George C. Pratt observed:

Here, the Island Trees school board removed certain books be-

cause it viewed them as vulgar and in bad taste, a removal that

clearly was content-based. Whether they were correct in their

evaluation of the books is not the issue. Nor is the issue whether,

assuming the books to be vulgar and in bad taste, it is a wise or

even desirable educational decision to sanitize the library by

removing them, thereby sheltering the students from their in.

fluence. Such issues should be decided and remedied either by

the school district's voters, or by the State Commissioner of Edu-

cation on an appropriate administrative level.

Here, the issue is whether the First Amendment requires a fed.

eral court to forbid a school board from removing library books

which its members find to be inconsistent with the basic values

of the community that elected them. President's Council resolved

that issue by holding that a book that was improperly selected

"for whatever reason" could be removed "by the same authority

which was empowered to make the selection in the first place."n

In a 2 to 1 decision, the Second Circuit Court reversed the decision

of the district court and remanded the case for trial. But the school

board appeed the decision and the Supreme Court accepted the case

the first of its kind to have a hearing before the high Court. Anticipat-

40 Questions and Answers

ing a decision that would affect schoo! libraries and classrooms for

yeam, teachers, librarians, administrators, and students of the First

Amendment who had followed the case awaited the Supreme Court

decision and hoped for a decision that would give guidance to the edu-

cation profession. Their hopes were denied.

Nearly seven years after the initial action that precipitated Pico, the

Supreme Court handed down its split decision on 25 June 1982. Writ-

ing about the split decision

the court, R. Bruce Rich, counsel to the

Association of American Publishers Freedom to Read Committee, ob-

served:

The case posed for the Court the issue of wi. ther and, if so, in

what circumstances

. .

. book removals in the school setting can

deprive students of their First Amendment rights. Not surprising-

ly, the Court divided sharply on the issue, with the decision re

fleeted in seven separate opinions, none of which commanded a

majority of the Justices. Nevertheless, a majority of the Court voted

to return the case for further trial proceedings to determine the

underlying motivations of the local school board in removing the

books, thereby preserving the First Amendment claims of the stu

dents and rejecting the notion that there are no potential constitu-

tional constraints on school board actions in this area. Viewed in

this light, the decision, for all its uncertainties, must be regarded

as a significant victory for the proponents of a vigorous First

Amendment and of the freedom to read)2

In the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom

the A merican Library

Association, R. Bruce Rich made these comments on the significance

of the decision:

If nothing else, the Island Trees decision sends an important

message to school officials who may be intent on cleansing school

library shelves of works which they view as personally offensive.

That message is that such actions will be subject to searching scru-

tiny

in the federal courts if necessary

to assure that they are

properly motivated. More generally, by preserving the students'

constitutional claims, the Court plaoed school library book

removals within the class of official conduct in the school setting

which is subject to First Amendment limitations.

At the same time, it is important to recognize that the decision

contains a number of self-stated limitations, as well as ambigui.

4 5

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

ties. It is thus unclear what, if any, constitutional limitations at-

tend a school system's textbook acquisition decisions, or its library

acquisition policies. In this connection, one must wonder how ab-

solutely Justice Brennan intended his statement that "[Local school

boards] might well defend their claim of absolute discretion in mat-

ters of curriculum by reliance upon their duty to inculcate corn .

mu nity values."

Equally unclear is the meaning of such concepts as "pervasive

vulgarity" and "educational suitability" as rationales for book

removals. Could such terms not be used by a school board intent

on developing a "proper" record to justify a vast range of ques-

tionable book removals?

Similarly left unclear by the decision is the extent to which

procedures must be adopted and adhered to in connection with

book removals. Are such procedures a constitutional requirement

or is a failure to utilize procedures merely a factor which the courts

will examine in evaluating the motivation underlying particular

removals?

These and other unresolved issues may or may not be clarified

by subsequent court decisions . . . . In the meanwhile, librarians,

publishers and others committed to the First Amendment princi-

ples at stake in this area can be pleased that the Supreme Court

even if in less than compelling fashion

has recognized and

preserved those principles.13

The Supreme Court may not choose w hear another book removal

case in this decade, or in this century, but such cases will undoubted

ly be tried in the lower courts. Therefore, an examination of several

significant lower court decisions may prove useful.

In Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District five high school

students challenged the school board's right to determine what books

could be selected as textbooks, what books could be selected for the

school library, which books could be removed from the school library,

and which books could be banned from the high school classroom.

The Sixth Circuit Court upheld the school board's right to decide

which books could be approved as textbooks, but it denied the school

board the right to remove previously purchased library books. The

Sixth Circuit Court observed:

4 b

40 Questions an,' ',nswers

the court must conclude that the board removed the books Kurt

Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle and Joseph Heller's Catch-22 because

it found them & jectionable in content and because it felt it had

the power, unfettered by the First Amendment,

to censor the

school library for subject matter that the board members found

distasteful

. .. A public library is a valuable adjunct to classroom

discussion. If a teacher considered Joseph Heller's Catch-22

be an important American rovel, no one would dispute that the

First Amendment's prot.,tton of academic freedom would

pro-

tect both his right to say so in class and his student's right to hear

him and to find and read the book. Obviously, the student's

suc .

cess in this last endeavor would be greatly hindered by the fact

that the book had been removed from the school library. The

removal of books from a school library is a much

more serious

burden upon freedom of classroom discussion than the action

found unconstitutional in Tinker v. Des Moines

. . .

. This burden

is not minimized by the availability of the disputed book in

sources

outside the school. 14

In Right to Read Defense Committee of Chelsea

v. School Commit-

tee of the City of Chelsea the president of the Chelsea (Massachusetts)

School Committee objected to Male and Female Under 18,

a book

that a parent brought to the prez,ident's attention. As editor of

the lo-

cal newspaper, the president immediately denounced the book

in his

newspaper even though he had not read any part of the anthology of

prose and poetry written by high school students.

Throughout his decision, Judge Joseph Tauro quoted from editori-

als and news stories in the Chelsea

newspaper to underscore the ar-

bitrariness of the president of the school committee in having the book

removed from the school library. The judge ordered the book returned

to the library, noting that in a school library "a student can literally

explore the unknown, and discover areas of interest and thought

not

covered by the prescribed curriculum. The student who discovers the

magic of the library is on the way to a life-long experience of self-

educ ation and enrichment. That student learns that

a library is a place

to test or expand upon ideas presented to him, in or out of the class.

room. The most effective antidote to the poison of mindless orthodoxy

is ready access to a broad sweep of ideas and philosophies. There is

no danger in such exposure. The danger is in mind control."15

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

In Salvail v. Nashua Board of Educa'ion one member of the Nashua

(New Hampshire) School Board asked that Ms. Magazine be removed

from the high school library because it contained advertisements for

contraceptives, vibrators, materials dealing with lesbianism and witch-

craft, and gay material. He also objected to advertisements for what

he described as a pro-communist newspaper (The Guardian) and ad-

vertisements suggesting trips to Cuba. In addition he feIt that the maga-

zine encouraged students and teachers to send away for records made

by known communist folk singers. Another school board member who

wa s. a former principal said that the "proper test for material to be avail-

able for reading by high school students was whether it could be read

aloud to his daughter in a classroom."

The school board voted to remove back issues of Ms. Magazine from

the high school library and to cancel the subscription. The school board

ignored the procedures for handling complaints about school mated-

als that had been distributed to all New Hampshire school districts by

the State Department of Education. Members of the board felt they

were not bound by New Hampshire's interim guidelines and that "in

some cases they should act instantaneously."

The court ordered the school board to return the magazine to the

library shelves and to renew the subscription. The court observed: "de-

spite protestations contained in the testimony of these parties, it is the

'political' content of Ms. Magazine more than its sexual overtones that

led to its arbitrary displacement. Such a basis for removal of the publi-

cation is constitutionally impermissible."16

Bicknell v. Vergennes Union High School Board of Directors grew

out of an ongoing controversy concerning some of the books in the

Vergennes (Vermont) Union High School library. The board of direc-

tors established a written policy governing the selection and removal

of books that specified the "rights and responsibilities" of the board,

the professional staff, the parents, and the students. The "rights" of

the board are: "To adopt policy and procedure, consistent with statute

and regulation

that they feel is in the best interests of students, par-

ents, teachers and community." For professional staff: "To freely se-

lect, in accordance with Board policy, organize and administer the

media collection to best serve teachers and students." For students:

"To freely exercise the right to read and to free access to library materi-

4 8

40 Questions and Answers

als." The policy also includes procedures and criteria for the selection

of materials and a procedure allowing parents to submit requests for

review of books. The procedure calls for the librarian to meet with the

parents to resolve the issue; unresolved matters go to the board.

Several months after the adoption of the policy, parents complained

about two books, Patrick Mann's Dug Day Afternoon and Richard

Price's The Wanderers. The parents objected to "the vulgarity and in-

decency of language" in the books. The board voted to remove The

Wanderers and to place Dog Day Afternoon on a restricted shelf. The

board also voted to prohibit the school librarian from purchasing any

additional major works of fiction, and subsequently voted that any book

purchases other than those in the categories "Dorothy Canfield Fisher,

science fiction and high interest-low vocabulary must be reviewed by

the school administration in consultation with the Board." A group of

students, their parents, and other parents filed a complaint asking the

district court in Vermont to enjoin the removal of the books and the

alteration of the policy.

The Second Circuit Court upheld the decision of the lower court that

the removal of tit.: books did not constitute a suppression of ideas and

thus was not a violation of First Amendment rights of students. Nor

did the board's changing of the procedures constitute a violation of

due process.17

It is interesting to note that the Second Circuit Court delivered this

opinion on the same day that it decided against the school board in

Pico.

In Zykan v. Warsaw Community School Corporation Brooke and

Blair Zykan sued the Warsaw (Indiana) School Board for violating their

First Amendment rights as students by these actions: 1) removing an

elective course titled "Values for Everyone" from the curriculum and

turning the class set of Values Clarification over to a group of senior

citizens for a public burning; 2) deleting seven other courses from the

curriculum, including "Gothic Literature," "Black Literature," "Science

Fiction," "F.-1k lore and Legends," and "Whatever Happened to Man-

kind?"; 3) banning four books

Growing Up Female in America,

The Stepford Wives, Go Ask Alice, and The Bell Jar

from the "Wom-

en in Literature" course; 4) requiring an English teacher to excise a

few pages from Student Critic, a book that had been taught without

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

challenge for seven years; 5) having Go Ask Alice permanently cht:cked

out of the school library by an administrator; 6) failing to renew the

contracts of two teachers, which the plaintiffs alleged was part of the

board's censorship campaign; and 7) not following the board's estab-

lished procedures for reconsideration of materials and for failing

obtain community or professional input on its decisions.

District Judge Allen Sharpe dismissed the suit because "this Court

lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter" and because "the

complaint

does not allege a violation of constitutionally protected rights." In

up.

holding the lower court's decisio

the Seventh Circuit Court observed:

Secondary school students certainly retain an interest in

some

freed3m of the classroom, if only through the qualified "freedom

ic sear" that has lately emerged as a constitutional concept. But

two factors tend to limit the relevance of "academic freedom" at

the secondary school level. First, the student's right to and need

for such information is bounded by the level of his

or her intellec-

tual development. A high school student's lack of the intellectual

skills necessary for taking full advantage of the marketplace of ideas

engenders a correspondingly greater need for direction and guid.

ance from those better equipped by experience and reflection to

make critical educational choices. Second, the importance of

sec-

ondary schools in the development of intellectual faculties is only

one part of a broad informative role encompassing the encourage.

ment and nurturing of those fundamental social, political, and mor-

al values that will permit a student to take his place in the

community.th

the case of Pratt v. Independent School District No. 831

a school

board removed a film of Shirley Jackson's well-known short

story "The

Lottery" as well as an accompanying discussion film. Students filed

suit in district court, requesting that the films be returned. The

court

ordered the board to reinstate the film in its curriculum. Judge Miles

Lord observed:

Case law dictates that a school board has the broad authority

to regulate school curriculum

. .

This authority, however, is

limited by the first amendment to the constitution. The action of

a school district in removing something from the curriculum can

40 Questions and Answers

not be motivated by an interest in imposing a religious or scien-

tific orthodoxy or in eliminating a particular idea from student

aeCeSS.I9

13 . What are the parents' rights if they wish to keep

their children from reading or learning something

to which they are opposed?

The Supreme Court has clearly held that parents have the right "to

guide the education of their children." But the state also has a legiti-

mate interest in the schooling of its future citizens, and therefore it

can compel parents to provide their children with an adequate educa-

tion. When school officials and parents disagree about what is best for

youngsters, the right of parents may collide with those of the state.'

At one time, the public schools, acting as the state's agents, bowed to

the wishes of parents by excusing students from courses and specific

assignments. Early court cases indicated that parents had a right to

excuse their children from any course offered by the schools. How-

ever, today schools generally can compel students to attend courses

that are deemed "basic" or "essential for good citizenship" even over

the objections of parents. But if parents can show that a course clearly

violates their religious freedom, such objections will have a better

chance of being respected by the courts.2 Thus far, however, the

courts have rejected the argument that the schools have violated the

religious freedom of the parents and their children by imposing the

"religion" of secular humanism on their children (see question 29).

The removal of a child from a course to which a parent objects is

further complicated by the courts' recognition of a student's constitu-

tional rights independent of the parents. Another complicating factor

stems from school board control over schools. As Robert O'Neil ex-

plains, "While the percentage of actual participation in school board

elections varies, and is often appallingly low, citizens have the chance

to vote

and when they feel strongly about curricular or other school

matters, they do exercise their franchise. Thus a single parental chal-

lenge to a unit or course that has been approved by an elected board

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

(or its appointed surrogates) is antidemocratic. The clash is inevitable

even where the intervention seeks to have only a single child excused,

because others may seek comparable relief and may claim unequal

treatment if they are not also excused. The clash is more severe, of

course, where the objecting parent seeks to have the whole unit re-

moved from the curriculum."3

The argument that parents should have absolute control of the edu-

cation of their children in such intimate matters as sex, family life, and

procreation is a strong one. But the school argument is also a strong

one. As O'Neil states, "If every parent can determine what each child

will study, the control of education would become chaotic. Moreover,

as schools increasingly certify the content of a diploma

for college

admission, employment, and the like

the need for uniformity in the

curriculum becomes greater. To have the curriculum individually de-

termined

beyond the kinds of electives that are allowed in many

secondary schools

would seriously undermine the claims for accep-

tance and support on which the school systems in this country

depend."4

Clashes over parental rights have led to mixed decisions in the courts,

and they will unquestionably continue to do so.

14. Who are the schoolbook protesters?

Your nextdoor neighbor could be a schoolbook protester. It could

be anyone: the couple across the street, the elderly lady on the cor-

ner, the young man who repairs TV sets, the minister, the student who

delivers the daily newspaper, a member of an organization concerned

about the public schools. According to surveys of the frequency of

schoolbook protests, complaints are lodged primarily by parents, but

protesters also include teachers, school administrators, school librari-

ans, students, clergymen, school board members, and special interest

groups. They do not represent one particular religion or a specific po-

litical party. Their economic backgrounds and occupations are as var-

ied and interesting :is the objectionable material they find in books.

40 Questions and Answers

15.

Do the schoolbook protesters live primarily

small towns?

Schoolbook protesters do not live in any particular part of the na-

tion; they can be found in all 50 states, in large cities

and in small towns,

in inner-city neighborhoods and in the suburbs. A

listing of recorded

censorship incidents during the last 10 years shows that

schoolbook

protest is definitely not limited to any

geographic area. Schoolbook

protesters are at work everywhere as the listing

below will attest. Please

note that this is only a partial listing.

Alabama: Anniston, Huntsville, Scottsboro, Tuscaloosa, State

Board

of Education, State Textbook Committee

Alaska: Anchorage, Barrow, Fairbanks, Yakutat

Arizona: Benson, Gilbert, Marana, Phoenix, Prescott, St. David,

Thatch-

er, State Legislation

Arkansas: Concord, Glen Rose, Homer, Hot Springs, North Little

Rock,

Searcy

California: Anaheim, Anderson, Chula Vista, Concord, Cotati,

Culver

City, Fresno, Hayward, Imperial Beach, Jamul, Lafayette, Livermore,

Mt. Diablo, Oaldand, San Diego, San Jose, San Juan,

Santa Clara,

Santa Rosa, Walnut Creek, Yucaipa

Colorado: Aurora, Boulder, Denver, Glenwood, Idaho Springs,

Jeffer-

son County, La Mesa, Pagosa

Springs, Widefield, State Legislation

Connecticut: Bethany, Darien, Enfield, Hamden, Lebanon,

Ledyard,

Manchester, Simsbury, State Legislation

Delaware: Camden, Dover, New Castle County

Florida: Escambia County, Ft. Myers, Haines City, Lakeland, Lee

Coun-

ty, Orlando, Palm Beach County, Pinellas

County, Polk County, St.

Petersburg, Stuart, Tallahassee, Tampa, Vero Beach

Georgia: Atlanta, Cobb County, Gwinnett County,

Savannah, Walker

County

Hawaii: Hawaii School Board

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Idaho: Boise, Lewiston, Moscow, St. Anthony

Illinois: Barrington, Champaign, Collinsville, Du Page County, Edwards-

ville, Glenview, Johnston City, Mahomet, Midlothian. New Trier, Nor-

mal, Norridge, Oak Lawn, Peoria, Peru, Princeton, Schaumberg,

Springfield, Spring Valley, Waukegan, Winnetka

Indiana: Cedar Lake, Daleville, Fort Wayne, French Lick, Goshen, High-

land, Marion County, New Albany, Tell City, Warsaw, Westfield,

Yorktown

Iowa: Atlantic, Bettendorf, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des

Moines, Dubuque, Elkader, Kanawha, Monticello, New Hartford,

Sioux City, West Des Moines

Kansas: Buhler, Dodge City, Gardner, Hays, Hutchinson, Mackville, Sa-

lina, Topeka, Wichita

Kentucky: Frankfort, Jefferson County, Louisville, Somerset

Louisiana: Baton Rouge, Jefferson Parish, Lafayette, Livingston, New

Orleans, Monroe, Shreveport, St. Tammany Parish

Maine: Bath, Baileyville, Brunswick, Caribou, Dyer Brook, New Lis-

bon, Sanford, York

Maryland: Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Federalsburg, Frederick,

Glen Burnie, Harford County, Howard County, Linthicum, Middle-

town, Montgomery County, Potomac, Prince Georges County, Pyles-

ville, Rockville, Salisbury, Westminster

Massachusetts: Athol, Buck land, Chelsea, Dedham, Holyoke, Hopkin-

ton, Ludlow, North Adams, Orange, Pembroke, Scituate, Townsend,

Waltham

Michigan: Bloomfield Hills, Brighton, Detroit, Flint, Grand Blanc, Grand

Ledge, Hesperia, Holland, Lapeer, Middleville, Midland, Romeo,

Swartz Creek, Watervliet, Wyoming

Minnesota: Bloomington, Deer River, Duluth, Eden Valley, Elk River,

Forest Lake, Grand Rapids, International Falls, Long Prairie, Min-

neapolis, Park Rapids, Pipestone, St. Anthony-New Brighton, St.

Cloud, St. Paul, Sauk Rapids, South St. Paul, Zimmerman

Mississippi: Rankin County, Mississippi Textbook Commission, State

Legislation

5444

40 Questions and Answers

Missouri: Branson, Eldon, Hillsboro, Independence, Mehlville, Mexi-

co, Miller, Park Hill, Raytown, Springfield

Montana: Billings, Helena, Libby, Missoula, Whitehall

Nebraska: Bellevue, Dorchester, Lincoln, Omaha, Pierce, Ravenna,

Wayne

Nevada: Carson City, Henderson, Reno

New Hampshire: Candia, Claremont, Merrimack, Nashua

New Jersey: Bergen County, Bloomsbury, Lindenwold, Mahwah, North

Bergen, Norwood, Old Bridge, Pequannock, Pompton Plains, Salem,

Totowa, Trenton, Wayne

New Mexico: Carlsbad, Santa Fe, New Mexico State Board of Education

New York: Binghamton, Brockport, Brooklyn, Cornwall, East Mead.

ow, Jericho, Hannibal, Levittown, New York City, Putnam Valley, Roch-

ester, Syracuse, Van Etten, Vernon, White Plains, Wilson

North Carolina: Asheboro, Buncombe County, Cabarrus County, Clin-

ton, Durham, Greensboro, New Hanover County, Raleigh, Randolph

County, Southport, Statesville, Wayne County, Winston.Salem

North Dakota: Minot

Ohio: Akron, Albany, Columbus, Continental, Dayton, Enon, Findlay,

Garfield Heights, Hamilton, Hudson, Mount Vernon, North Jackson,

Oak Hills, Oberlin, Rootstown, Xenia

Oklahoma: Boynton, Eufaula, Miami, Tulsa, State Legislation

Oregon: Beaverton, Corvallis, Creswell, Eagle Point, Eugene, Gervais,

Glide, Hillsboro, Lincoln County. Monroe, Philomath, Pleasant Hill,

Portland, Roseburg, Sandy, Springfield, Vancouver, Willamina

Pennsylvania: Mlentown, Brodheadsville, Emporium, Girard, Harris.

burg, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Oil City, Red Cross, Scranton, Selings-

grove, Southeastern Greene, State College, Sunbury, Warrington, York

County

Rhode Island: Portsmouth, Providence, Richmond, Westerly, Westport,

Woonsocket

South Carolina: Columbia, Greenville, Richland

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

South Dakota: Blunt, Onida, Pierre, Sioux Falls

Tennessee: Church Hill, Dayton, Kingsport, Knoxville, Manchester

Texas: Arlington, Austin, Del Valle, Eagle Pass, Fort Worth, Hempstead,

Houston, Hurst, Olney, San Antonio, State Textbook Committee

Utah: Hcber City, Ogden, Provo

Vermont: Bradford, Burlington, Chester, East Montpelier, Richford,

Vergennes

Virginia: Arlington, Charlotte County, Chesterfield County, Christian

burg, Fairfax County, Gretna, Herndon, Mathews, Warrentown, Wise

County

Washington: Hermiston, Hockinson, Issaquah, Kent, Kitsap County,

Olympia, Omak, Renton, Snoqualmie, Spokane, Sumner, Vancouver,

Washougal, Ye 1m

West Virginia: Kanawha County, Mercer County, Morgantown,

Richwood

Wisconsin: Adams, Amherst, Coleman, Elkhorn, Fond du Lac, Green

Bay, Howard, Monte llo, Mosinee, Muskego, Nashotah, New Berlin,

Oconto, Racine, Solon Springs, Stevens Point, Sun Prairie, Wales, Wau.

kesha, Wauzeka, West Allis

Wyoming: Casper, Gillette, Glenrock, Jackson Hole

This list is based on incidents reported in the Newsletter

on Intellec-

tual Freedom of the American Library Association, annual reports of

People for the American Way, and press clippings.

16.

What do the schoolbook protesters have in

common?

According to pemons with whom I have talked who have experienced

censorship, the schoolbook protesters who insist that books be removed

from public schools seem to have these common characteristics: They

5146

40 Questions and Answers

are convinced that they know what is best for others to see and to

read. They know what is wrong with a book whether they have read

it or not. They tend to judge a book by a few specific passages rather

than by the book as a whole. They lack a sense of humor.

Ken Done lson, Professor of English at Arizona State University, has

written many articles about school censorship. He makes these dis-

tinctions between a censor and a teacher

The censor, however good and decent and sincere and religious

and decf_:- z.ed and patriotic, is usually supremely confident of his

or her own rightness. The censor seems certain while the teacher

can never be. The censor knows truth while the teacher is only

trying to perceive it. The censor sometimes claims to have a di-

rect pipeline to God and truth and right while the teacher can make

no such sacrilegious assertion. The censor may claim that he knows

what is good for everi p.crson while the teacher knows only that

each of us must take a pemonal trip through this world searching

for the good. The censc,r can afford the luxury of arrogance and

omniscience while the teacher can not so pretend.'

17. What are some of the tactics of the schoolbook pro-

testers?

The American Education Coalition, a Washington-based group of or-

ganizations that have expressed displeasure with America's public

schools, has prepared a series of "action kits" for "parent activists."

Action Kit #1, Organizing an Effective Parent Group, presents these

six steps:

1. Choose Your Battle

According to Action Kit #1, the newly formed group should de-

cide on the philosophy of the group, prepare a statement of pur-

pose, decide on a mixture of negative and positive strategies and

tactics, and then decide which issues to pursue.'

2. Create Your Organization

The Action Kit 5.3 tes that a "parent group starts with one per-

son." That individual enlists friends and acquaintances from differ-

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

ent backgrounds, including different religions. Then the group

gives itself a name, agrees on assigned responsibilities, and avoids

"the creation of a formal structure."2

3. Choose a Course of Action

The Action Kit suggests that the new organization study the ar-

guments and rhetoric of the education establishment, become

familiar with the "liberal mentality" by subscribing to several

"liberal newsletters or tabloids," understand what makes the deci-

sion makers (administrators, educators, and school board mem-

bers) tick, apply "counter-pressure until [the decision makers]

decide the way you want," and build a coalition of like-minded

groups.3

4. Publicity

The Action Kit recommends the selection of a spokesperson who

conducts press conferences, becomes a guest on talk shows, and

engages in oneto-one encounters. If the spokesperson becomes

ill, the "media event" should be cancelled.4 The spokesperson

should avoid using "buzz words." "Example: 'book burners' is a

liberal buzz word, 'secular humanism' is a conservative buzz

word."5

5. Minor and Major Events

A well-established group should conduct a public meeting, invite

a speaker with "at least a regional reputation," invite a member

of the "enemy camp" but maintain control of the meeting, in-

vite the press, and schedule and advertise a future event.6

6. Future Possibilities

Readers are advised to send for two additional action kits: Lob-

bying Your Legislators and Congressmen and How to Get Elect-

ed to the Schoolboard.7

Several interesting suggestions are offered to parent activitist groups

by Connaught Marshner in Blackboard Tyranny: "If you mean to cir-

culate a rumor, don't do it on your official stationery or in the name

of your group."8 "If your group plans to be very controversial, you

may not wish to put officers' names on your stationery."9

Mrs. Marshner suggests that an activist group might want to mount

"a systematic lettersto-the-editor campaign" as the need arises. "The

40 Questions and Answers

crucial thing here is not to give the appearance of an organized

cam-

paign. Personally ask different 'reliables' in your club to write a letter

to the editor on a specific day on a specific aspect of the topics at is-

sue. This is, incidentally, a good way of determining who in your club

is a reliable and who is not."Io

About using call-in shows, Mrs. Marshner writes: "If the response to

your appearance is good enough, you may be invited back. You can

help bolster the response without telling the host that half the people

who called in were your friends

. . .

. When a talk show features some-

body you don't agree with, quickly call up a few of your reliables and

get them to listen and call in as well."n

Mel and Norma Gabler (see question 19) offer this advice to

pros-

pective schoolbook protesters:

to win any school battles, you must win them in the background

prior to any public meetings preferably. That is, you must con-

vince school board members and/or administrators first, for they

will almost invariably support one another in public, regardless

of the issue. Many times, however, one member of the board

can

quietly act to remove objectionable books, programs, or films; so

long as it does not break out into a "fanfare". It is vitally impor-

tant to do your "homework" before you begin any "campaigns"

at all.12

To mount "the offensive against undesirable texts," the Gablers

recommend that their followers take these seven steps:

1. Learn the textbook adoption procedures in your state and district.

2. Your thorough knowledge of the textbook is your best offensive

weapon.

3. It is essential to mark the objectionable passages in

context.

4. Hold some of your best arguments in reserve.

5. Stay on the offensive

6. Dc. :lot expect victory overnight.

7. Consider forming groups to work together.13

The description of a "typical" schoolbook protest incident provides

additional information on the strategies of the protesters. (See

ques-

tions 31 and 32.)

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

18. What are the targets of the schoolbook protesters?

During the last 12 years, I have examined thousands of pages of criti-

cism of schoolbooks, various teaching materials, and teaching methods;

and I have concluded that there are at least 200 targets of the pro-

testers who belong to organizations. The groups do not necessarily

agree on all targets, but there is a common core of at least 50 that

are shared by the New Right alone.

The 60 targets that follow are among the most common found in

the literature of protesting groups from either the right or the left:

1. Secular humanism. Many of the protesting organizations have

identified "objectionable" materiAs that they maintain promote the

tenets of the religion of secula,' humanism. Attempting to remove secu-

lar humanism from the public schools has become the number one

goal of such organizations. They seem to believe that if they could con-

vince the schools and the courts to prohibit the spreading of human-

ism, which they intentionally confuse with secular humanism, they

could eliminate such "evils" as sex education, drug education, values

clarification, evolution, and the "look-say" method of reading, among

others (see questions 25 to 29 for more information on secular

humanism).

2. Sex education. Norma and Mel Gabler and other schoolbook pro-

testers call sex education "how-to courses" that are responsible for

teenage pregnancies and the spreading of social diseases. The protesters

maintain that a majority of parents are opposed to sex education

courses in the schools despite the fact that public opinion polls show

that at least 70% of Americans polled endorse such courses.

3. Drug education. The founder of a protest organization in Minneso-

ta claims that drug education was never designed as a preventative;

instead, it teaches students how to "use drugs in a responsible man-

ner" and intensifies their desire to experiment with drugs.

4. Values clarification. The Gablers and others maintain that such

courses are designed to challenge and to destroy home-taught values.

The protesters maintain that values clarification courses rely on situa-

tion ethics, which, they believe, is the hallmark of secular humanism.

5. Soviet lapaganda. In a speech on the Capitol steps in Washing-

ton, D.C., in which he launched a new phase of his Clean Lip America

40 Questions and Answers

campaign, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority,

declared that most public school textbooks are nothing

more than "So-

viet propaganda." He said, "Our children are being trained to deny ther

200-year heritage." He then urged his followers to "rise

up in arms to

throw out every textbook [that seeks to deny children that heritage]."

6. Citizenship. According to Parents of Minnesota,

a protesting or-

ganization, a parent should not be misled "when your child is having

a course on citizenship. These are not citizenship classes as we know

them to be. The new cnurses are designed to transfer loyalties of the

child from CAPITALISM (Free Enterprise) to SOCIALISM. Socialism

(according to Marxist theory) is a stage of society in transition between

CAPITALISM and COMMUNISM."

7. Evolution. Members of some fundamentalist religions

oppose any

mention of evolution

in science and social studies textbooks as well

as in novels and short stories

without an equal mention of crea-

tionism.

8. Novels, stories, poems, or plays that portray conflicts between chil-

dren and their parents or between children and

persons in authority.

Also, literary works in which children question the decisions

or wis-

dom of their elders.

9. Literary works that contain profanity or

any "questionable"

language.

O. Literary works that contain characters who do not speak

stan-

dard English. Such characters, it is alleged, are designed by the authors

to teach students "bad English."

11. Black literature and black dialect.

12. Literary works and textbooks that portray

women in nontradi-

tional roles (anything other than housewife and mother). On the oth-

er hand, some feminist groups object to illustrations in basal readers

and other textbooks that show women in the so-called traditional roles.

13. Mythology

particularly if the myths include stories of creation.

14. Stories about any pagan cultures and lifestyles.

15. Stories about the supernatural, the occult, magic, witchcraft, Hal-

1v)ween, etc.

16. Ethnic studies. (One protesting organization calls ethnic studies

"un-American.")

17. Violence.

6 i

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

18. Passages that describe sexual acts explicitly, or passages that refer

to the sex act.

19. Invasions of privacy. Any questions, theme assignments, or

homework that ask students to examine their personal backgrounds

family, education, religion, childhood experiences, etc. In addition,

any questionnaires or assignments that allegedly violate

the privacy

of the family.

20. An abundance of pictures, cartoons, drawings, and songs in bas-

al readers or in any textbooks.

21. Literature written by homosexuals; literature written about

homosexuals; any "favorab:e" treatment of homosexuals.

22. Books and stories that do not champion the work ethic.

23. Books and stories that do not promote patriotism.

24. Negative statements about parents, about persons in authority,

about the United States, about American traditions.

25. Science fiction. One protester refers to all science fiction as the

"Godless books."

26. Works of "questionable writers" such as Langston Hughes, Dick

Gregory, Richard Wright, Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver, Joan Baez, and

Ogden Nash.

27. "Trash." Example& The Catcher in the Rye, Go Ask Alice, Flow-

ers for Algernon, Black Boy, Native Son, Manchild in

the Promised

Land, The Learning Tree, Black Like Me, Daddy Was a Numbers

Runner, and Soul on Ice.

28. Any books or stories that do not portray the family unit (non-

divorced mother and father with several children) as the basis of Ameri-

can life.

29. Assignments that lead the students to self-awareness and self-

understanding.

30. Critical thinking skills.

31. Books and stories that contain words that disparage any individu-

al or group

even if the language is a vital part of the

dialogue that

helps delineate a particular character.

32. Death education. In Change Agents in the Schools, Barbara M.

Morris alleges that death education courses remove the fear of dying

and make it easier for students to accept suicide, abortion, and euthana-

sia. She notes that in such courses students are taught that the "ulti-

40 Questions and Answers

mate, the very ultimate use of the human body is a food for other hu-

mans." She notes several selections that students allegedly read in death

education courses and adds: "Students also read Jonathan Swift's A

Modest Proposal which extolls the delights of dining on well fed babies."

33. World geography, if there is mention of "one worldism."

34. Histories that mention the United Nations.

35. Histories that point out any weaknesses in the founders of this

nation or in any of the nation's leaders.

36. Uncaptioned pictures in history textbooks or in

any textbooks.

37. Revisionist histories.

38. Histories that refer to this nation as a democracy instead of

a republic.

39. Ecology. One of the Gablers' employees who helps write reviews

of history textbooks objects to publishers devoting "so much

space to

a movement thaes just picking up

and that some forces are trying

to push. There are plenty of people who are opposed to the ecology

movement. Actually only one side has been presented

and that's

usually the pro-ecology side."

40. Pollution. One protesting group objects to any mention of pol-

lution in textbooks since the results of pollution have not been

thoroughly proved and since the eradication of pollution is an "affront"

to the free-enterprise system.

41. Psycho-drama and role playing.

42. Sensitivity training.

43. Behavior modification.

44. Magic circles.

45. Any psychological or psychiatric method practiced in the pub-

lic schools. Any psychological principle used in teaching.

46. Assignments that ask students to make value judgments

or as-

signed literature that prompts students to question value judgments

made by others.

47. Human development and family development programs usual-

ly taught in home economics classes.

48. News magazines that publish stories about the harsh realities

of life

war, crime, death, violence, and sex.

49. Magazines that contain advertisements for alcoholic beverages,

birth control devices, or trips to countries like Cuba.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

50. Nudity. Example: parents and school administrators have ob-

jected to the drawing of the naked boy in Maurice Sendak's In the Night

Kitchen and to reproductions of paintings accompanying myths that

show half-clad gods and goddesses.

51. Near nudity. Many copies of the annual swimwear issue of Sports

Illustrated never reach the magazine racks in school libraries.

52. "Depressing thoughts." Example: Norma and Mel Gabler objected

to the inclusion, in a basal reader, of P.T. Barnum's statement, "There's

a sucker born every minute," because it's a

"depressing thought."

53. Distorted content. Example: one of the Gablers' volunteer review-

ers objected to a story in a basal reader because she contended

that

the "text is trying to stress change as being the major thing in life. This

is not true. Change has no reliability; it cause [sic] the personality to

be shattered."

54. Books or stories with suggestive titles. Examples: Making It with

Mademoiselle (a book on dressmaking) and Belly Button Defense (a

book about basketball).

55. Negative thinking. The Gablers urge their reviewers to look for

examples of negative thinking in textbooks. Such thinking, according

to the Gablers, includes stories about alienation, statements from mem-

bers of minority groups that indicate they feel people are prejudiced

against them, stories that are frightening or horrifying, stories that are

depressing.

56. Isms fostered. In the outline for reviewers, the Gablers encourage

their volunteers to look for favorable comments about any of the isms:

communism, socialism, internationalism, and so forth. In one of their

volumes of objections about textbooks submitted for adoption in Texas,

the Gablers objected to a favorable mention of UNICEF in a basal reader

"because it is a known Communist front."

57. Sexist and racist stereotypes.

58. The generic use of masculine pronouns when the referent may

be either male or female.

59. Books in which stories or illustrations have a disproportionate

number of male, white, and middle-class people.

60. Any program developed with federal funds.

6 41

40 Questions and Answers

19. Who are the Gablers and how do they affect text-

books that are used throughout the nation?

Since 1961 Norma and Mel Gabler have dedicated themselves to the

task of "cleaning up" the nation's textbooks because they are convinced

that textbooks exert tremendous influence on children. That belief is

reflected in these two statements that seem to be the creed of their

nonprofit, tax-exempt organization called Educational Research

Analysts:

Until texts are changed we must expect a continuation of the

present epidemic of promiscuity, unwanted pregnancies, VD,

crime, violence, vandalism, rebellion, etc.'

TEXTBOOKS mold NATIONS because textbooks largely deter-

mine HOW a nation votes, WHAT it becomes and WHERE it

goesP

Since the Gablers qarted reviewing textbooks and protesting what

they consider to be objectionable content, their efforts have paid divi-

dends. For example, in one of the printed sheets they distributed to

their followers in 1977, they noted that "last year God gave parents

a number of victories. In Texas alone, the State Textbook Committee

did a good job of selecting the best of the available books. Then, the

State Commissioner of Education removed 10 books, including the dic-

tionaries with vulgar language and unreasonable definitions."3

One year later the Gablers sent this report to their followers:

We submitted 659 pages in our Bills of Particulars against twenty-

eight textbooks, ilicluding Supplemental Readers, Literatures, and

American Histories. All of the Readers and Literature books were

either oriented toward violence, cruelty, death and despair, or they

were trivial. The history texts were distorted and biac,ed against

traditional American values. God saw fit to direct O.: State Text-

book Committee to remove eighteen of these objectionable text-

books in the first

stage. Many others should have been

eliminated.4

In that same report the Gablers noted that the Texas State Board

of Education directed the removal of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

from three textbooks, and it eliminated "Mateo Falcone" and "A Sum-

mer Tragedy" from one text. The Gablers had objected to all three

stories.

The Gabler influence on textbooks is immeasurable. In a 1980 in-

terview on Donahue, the Gablers said their reviews of textbooks were

used in all 50 states and in 25 foreign countries. On that program they

admitted that they review textbooks line by line, searching for materi-

al that does not coincide with their religious and political points of view.

Some of us who study censorship are also convinced that the Gablers

also search for anything that does not coincide perfectly with their par-

ticular view of reality or with their perception of any subject matter.

As I read about and study schoolbook protest incidents, I frequently

find that the local protesters have been guided by the Gablers' reviews

and strategies. And in four censorship incidents in Indiana that I per-

sonally investigated, the Gablers' reviews, strategies, and attack on secu-

lar humanism weee used in each one (see question 31).

The Gablers work tirelessly at what they call their faith ministry.

Perhaps the title of an article about them in Texas Monthly best sum-

marizes their dedication: "The Guardians Who Slumbereth Not." They

keep a schedule that few could match: "trav

s, eonsulta-

tions, and speaking engagements that takes t:

Longview

more elan two hundred days a year."s In try_

ut time,

they work with a paid staff ot eight to ten and a

irs; review.

ers, meticulously examining the books se-

tion in Texas.

They have become celebrides who ilavc

:'ea aired ,)r, 60

Minutes, Donahue, Today, Nightline, Good Morni,4 4merira, Free-

dom Report, The David Frost Show, syndicated religious broadcasts,

and numerous local radio and television talk shows.6 James C. Hefley

described their textbook crusade in Textbooks on Trial (Wheaton, Ill.:

Victor Books, 1976), which is in its fourth printing and which has been

released in paperback under the title, Are Textbooks Harming Your

Children?

Accompanying the Texas Monthly article on the Gablers was a page

of Gabler quotations titled "The World According to the Gablers: Ru-

minations from God's Angry Couple."7 Six of those quotations follow:

On independent though:

"Too many textbooks leave students

to make up their own minds about things."

6. 6

40 Questions and Answers

On teaching about the great depression

"It will only succeed

in raising doubts about our system."

On schools today

"Crime, violence, immorality and illitera-

cy. . . .

the seeds of decadence are being taught universally in

schools."

On peer pressure

"Any time you have a composite of a group

of kids, the result is never up. It is always down."

On their own work

"What we're fighting is mental child abuse. "

On modern math

"W hen a student reads in a math book that

there are no absolutes, every value he's been taught is destroyed.

And the next thing you know, the student turns to crime and

drugs."

During the last 10 years, I have read hundreds of pages of objections

to textbooks that the Gablers have included in the Bills of Particulars

they submit to the Texas Commissioner of Education each year. The

following are objections that I consider to be typical. I have provided

the title of the book, the page number, the passage the Gablers object

to, and then their objection as recorded in their Bill of Particulars.

Serendipity (a reader for grade 7)8

p. 67, " .

. .

the white sailors often got so drunk that they cracked the

bows of ships . .

Objection: Since this story was written in the first person by a black

slave this statement shows whites in a bad light.

p. 69, "Trusting in His (God's) goodness and justice allowed me a blind

belief that one day I would be free

. . .

. Why did God tolerate such

treatment of black men? White men left England as men and after

a few years in the island turned into monsters. Why?"

Objection: Insinuates that God was unjust in letting him be taken as

a slave and that He should have prevented bad treatment of blacks.

Depreciates God.

p. 73, "That Quakers were a type of Christian, I also knew

perhaps

they were Christians who were particularly honest."

Objection: One is either honest or dishonest. This puts Christians in

a bad light.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

p. 112, "Countless species became extinct long before man ever ap-

peared on earth."

Objection: Infers evolution is a fact. Trilobites and dinosaurs lived side

by side with man.

p. 14, "Of all mammals man is the only one whose behavior depends

almost entirely on learning."

p. 114, "No animal has been able to mold its life or environment in

the way man has done."

Objection: Man is NOT an animal.

Homemaking Skills for Everday Living (grades 6.8)9

pp. 84-85, "How would you describe a typical American family? How-

ever you would describe it, you would be wrong. There are families

with children and families without children. There are families with

one parent and families with two parents. There are families with

one wage earner and families with two or more wage earners. There

are families with stepparents and stepchildren. There are families

with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins."

Objection: We object to this description. Until sociologists and text-

books started rewriting the composition of a family, there was not

controversy. To most people families still mean those who are re .

lated by blood, marriage or adoption. Of course, there are variations,

but why should this textbook dwell on the diversities?

p. 86, "The nuclear family structure is well-suited to children, 5-11."

Objection: This statement is too weak. It should be revised to state

that the nuclear family is the ideal family, or state that only a nu .

clear or extended family can provide the proper environment for

children.

pp. 107.108, "DWORCE"

Objection: Divorce and remarriage are presented as normal and ac-

ceptable.

Living, Learning, and Caring (homemaking, grades 6-8)10

p. vii, " . . .

Young people begin to question ideas they learned earlier

in life. They debate points of view and search for facts .

. . "

Objection: Infers values and rules learned as youngsters are to be ques-

tioned and disregarded.

40 Questions and Answers

p. 6, "In adolescence comes the feeling that you want to be different

from your parents and others. You want to be 'you."

Objection: Undermining parental values they have tried to instill m

their children. Breeds disrespect and rebellion against parents.

Exploring American Citizenship (grade 8)n

p. 58, " .

. .

Women have gained mor.2 education in professions outside

the home."

Objection: To expect women to receive the same pay as men ignores

the fact that seniority has a decided effect on salaries received. Un-

less women abandon their hig!-?st profession

as mothers mold-

ing young lives

there is no way they can ever achieve seniority

equal to men.

p. 58, "There has been discrimination against women, too. There are

more women than men in the United States. There are more wom-

en than men of voting age. Women live longer than men .

Objection: This is a very biased description which does not take into

consideration much of what is involved.

pp. 64-65, "A shocking case of discrimination against Asians took place

in World War II. The United States was at war with Japan. But loyal

Americans of Japanese descent were not trusted. More than 100,000

of these Americans lived in the Far West. Our government forced

them to move into special camps. Those who owned homes had

to sell them. They had to take the little money they were offered

for their homes and property. The camps were guarded with barbed

wire. Families lived there through the entire war. Since the war, Jap-

anese Americans have been accepted once again. Many own busi-

nesses and farms. Thousands are professional people. A large

number have graduated from college. Through their talent and hard

work, they have overcome much discrimination against them."

Objection: This is a totally biased account that should be rewritten

or removed. The students deserve a fair and accurate presentation,

not one that is emotionally charged .

. .

The reader might be interested in the three-page outline that the Ga-

blers provide volunteer reviewers, which lists 129 objectionable items

under 10 categories.72 As illustrative, three categories follow:

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Negative Thinking

A. Alienation

B. Death oriented

C. Degrading

D. Depressing

E. Despairing and hopeless

Discontented

G. Discouraging

H. Frightening and horrifying

Hate inspiring

Lack of respect

K. Low goals

L. Morbidness

M. No striving for excellence

N. Poverty oriented

0. Prejudicial

P. Problem stressed

Q, Skeptical

R Suicidal

Humanism, Occult, and Other Religions Encouraged

A. Humanism and its tenets advanced

1. Situation ethics

Ex: No absolutes

No right or wrong

Relativism

2. Evolution

3. Sex education (without morals equals "how to" course)

a. Abortion encouraged

b. Destroys modesty

c. Homosexuality condoned

d. Too explicit for age level

4. International (world community, one worldism

. . .)

B. Occult spawned

1. Astrology

2. Satanism

3. Superstition

4. Tarot cards

5. Witchcraft

C. Buddhism, Islam, Existentialism, Pantheism, etc. presented

favorably

Other Important Educational Aspects

A. Drug education (surveys reveal increase in drug use after school

drug education courses.)

B. Racism

C. Respectability given non-deserving individuals

7 0

40 Questions and Answers

D. Women's Lib favored

E. Overpopulation (Euthanasia, Infanticide, etc.)

F. Overemphasis on zoology

G. Evolution

H. Sex education

After reading thousands of pages of reviews by the Gablers and their

volunteer reviewers,1 can only conclude that any mention of the items

included in their outline calls for a citation as objectionable material.

For example, if characters in stories in basal readers or anthologies

are depressed, alienated, discouraged, hopeless, skeptical, or suicidal,

they are excoriated by the Gablers.

211 How does the Texas textbook adoption process af-

fect the nation's textbooks?

..ipnding 64 million dollars

1982 a/one,' the State of Texas has

become the largest single ccinsumer of te-dbooks in the nation. As one

of 22 states that has

atewide ackTtion,2 the Texas State Textbook

Committee, as an arm of the Tas Education Agency, approves not

more than five and na tem: than two textbooks in specific categories

each year. Obvitx4iy publishers want their books adopted because of

the size of the Texas market. And that fact gives Texas a great deal

of power in the textbook publishing industry.

Like California, Texas does not necessarily accept textbooks as they

are presented for adoption. Rather, the Texas State Textbook Com-

mittee conducts open hearings each summer at which citizens have

the right to speak out against the books submitted for adoption. Until

1983, only those persons who were opposed to textbooks could speak

at the hearings.

Those who object to textbooks submit bills of particulars in which

they register their objections line by line, paragraph by paragraph. At

the end of the week of hearings, publishers are given a specified time

in which to respond to the objections. Then the State Textbook Com-

mittee decides which books it will adopt and tells publishers what

changes must be made in the books before they will be purchased.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Lducation Week reported: "Because the Texas market is so impor-

tant and because it is impractical for publishers to print separate edi-

tions for use in Texas schools, some industry officials have noted that

changes that are made in textbooks to be eligible for the Texas

mar-

ket are also included in books offered to schools throughout the

country."3

In 1976 the State Textbook Committee rejected these five diction-

aries because the petitioners who submitted bills of particulars

com-

plained that the books contained blatantly offensive words: The

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, High School

Edition; The Doubleday Dictionary; The Random House College Dic-

tionary, Revised Edition; Webster's New World Dictionary of the

American Language, College Edition; and Webster's Seventh New

Collegiate Dictionary4 In 1981 only two companies submitted dic-

tionaries, ar

-hey were given the same treatment the' received in

1976. Only tL,Ls time one of the two companies agret.,,

t) remove the

"offensive" words so that its dictionary would be accepted. The other

company refused, maintaining that it would preserve the integrity of

its dictionary by not bowing to the wishes of a few persons who

were

insensitive to language.

In 1976 publishers were ordered to remove Shirley Jackson's short

story, "The Lottery," from their literature anthologies.s That story had

been included in anthologies for more than two decades before the

petitioners caused its removal. And the removal for Texas

removes

the story for the nation since publishers maintain that they

cannot af-

ford to publish two separate editions of textbooks

one for Texas and

one for the rest of the country.

In 1982 the Gablers precipitated changes in the definition of the

term

family by their bills of particulars. O

textbook gave this definition:

"Generally speaking a family is a gro,tp of people who live together

in one house. They may or may not be related to

one another." The

book also contained a section titled "Nonrelated Families" that

men-

tioned college students, young working people, and handicapped and

elderly people who live together for companionship, security, and

shared expenses. The Gablers called that definition "ridiculous" and

said the text was "altering values and beliefs of students."6 The Texas

Commissioner of Education ordered the publishing

company to replace

40 Questions and Answers

the definition and to delete the section on "Nonrelated Families" if

it wanted its books adopted in Texas. The Commissioner ordered simi-

lar changes in another textbook.

Those are only a few examples of changes for Texas that have af-

fected the nation. Each year, the Texas Education Agency issues a

proclamation, stipulating what categories of textbooks it will adopt dur.

ing the year and specifying limitations. The section of the proclama-

tion on evolution/creationism allegedly caused publishers to tone down

their treatment of evolution

even in biology textbooks. Professor

Gerald Skoog of Texas Tech University sent a letter to the chairman

of the State Board of Education, noting that some publishers did not

submit their biology textbooks for consideration in Texas during the

last adoption because of the "unreasonableness" of the Texas procla-

mation. He said that resulted in a narrowing of the choice of textbooks

for Texas. He added that "as my research on textbooks shows, the cover-

age of evolution in the textbooks adopted was reduced and watered

down because of this section and the unreasonable rationale that sup-

ports it in this state and elsewhere. Furthermore, this section breeds

and supports other types of intimidation which censors the biology

teachers of this state as they teach about the history and variation of

life."7

The part of the proclamation dealing with creationism-evolution

follows:

Textbooks that treat the theory of evolution should identify it as

only one of several explanations of the origins of humankind and

avoid limiting young people in their search for meanings of their

human existence.

(1) Textbooks presented for adoption which treat the subject of

evolution substantively as explaining the historical origins of

humankind shall be edited, if necessary, to clarify that the

treatment is theoretical rather than factually verifiable. Fur-

thermore, each textbook must carry a statement on an in .

troductory page that any material on evolution included in

the book is clearly presented as theory rather than fact.

(2) Textbooks presented for adoption which do not treat evolu-

tion substantively as an instructional topic, but make refer-

ence to evolution, indirectly or by implication, must be

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

modified, if necessary, to ensure that the reference is c."_tarly

to be a theory and not a verified fact. These books will not

need to carry a statement on the introductory page.

(3) The presentation of the theory of evolution should be done

in a manner which is not detrimental to other theories of

origi n.8

The Texas attorney general declared the above bection in the adop-

tion proclamation to be unconstitutional and the Texas Education Agen-

cy removed it in 1984.9

But there are other sections in the proclamation that are equally

troublesome and that have a great impact not only on textbooks in

Texas but on those used throughout the nation. During an open hear-

ing on the adoption process, I had the opportunity to testify before

the Texas State Board of Education as a representative of the National

Council of Teachers of English. (See question 21.) Part of my testimo-

ny follows since I think that it shows the effects of other parts of the

proclamation on textbooks in general.

If I may, I would like to point out that as a young boy I eagerly

read about the adventures of such heroes as Davy Crockett and

Jim Bowie, who gave their lives for Texas, and Sam Houston, v.ito

devoted his life to Texas. I have read novels and works of nonfic..-

tion about citizens of this state many of whom have made sig-

nificant contributions to this nation. And I am saddet,i,d when I

consider that the exploits of those heroes could not be included

in textbooks if guideline 1.4 were strictly adhered to. That guide-

line reads: "Textbooks shall contain no material of a partisan or

sectarian character."

As you know, one definition of partisan is "a militant supporter

of a party, cause, faction, person, or idea." Davy Crockett, Jim Bow-

ie and Sam Houston were all "militant supporters of a cause." So

are hundreds of other Texas heroes, writers, politicians and btai .

ness leaders. Taken to its extreme, guideline 1.4 would eliminate

the sayings and exploits of hundreds of Texans from textbooks.

If it were narrowly intefveted, that guideline would prohibit the

adoption of textbooks that discuss religion, religious movements

in history, and the effects of religion on politics and society. Tak.

en to its extreme

as some textbook protesters are prone to do

with every restrictive guideline

1.4 could lead to the adoption

7 4

40 Questions and Answers

of a single, concentrated approach to a subject, such as the use

of a phonics-only method in reaamg. [I referred to the phonics.

only method here since Norma and Mel Gabler, as well as other

prc-resters, persuaded the Texas State Textbook Committee to set

1.1) separate category phonics only for basal readers. The

decision to have such a category greatly disturbs most reading

experts.]

Another guideline, 1.7, which refers to blatantly offensive lan .

guage, could lead to the elimination of statements of such promi.

nent Americans as Lyndon B. Johnson, Harry Truman, and Richard

Nixon among others. One of the saddest events in the history

of the American textbook adoption process is that guideline 1.7

has continucualy led to the removal of dictionaries from the pur.

chase list in Texas. That removal has cast this great state in the

dim light of anti intellectualism. That removal has unfortunately

indicated to the rest of the nation that some educational leaders

and textbook protesters in Texas do not look upon a dictionary

as a great treasure and an honest record of the American English

language. That removal has been scorned throughout the nation

as an act that indicates a blatant disregard for the integrity of lex-

icography.

Other guidelines are equally troublesome. As a student of liter.

ature, I am concerned about the section on violence. Narrowly

interpreted, that guideline oould lead to the exclusion of the works

of Shakespeare as well as the Bible, and many of the most impor-

tant works in American and world literature. Great writers do not

always treat violence "in the context of its cause and its conse .

quence," as the guideline suggests. Rather, great writers create liter-

ary works of art that reflect society, that stimulate thinking, and

that may elevate humankind to think rationally about all acts

violent and non.violent.

During the last ten years, I have read hundreds of pages of ob-

jections to textbooks. What has struck me as unconscionable is

the fact that some protesters have called for

and have actually

succeeded in having removed

lines from poetry, paragraphs from

stories, and entire works from anthologies. The integrity of an artist

is apparently not recognized by such acts.

I tremble when I recall that one protester called for the removal

of these lines from a poem: " . . . that means that you and I could

have completely different points of view and both be right " The

writer of the objection noted that the lines of the poem reflected

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

"no definite standards and represented situation ethics." The lines

of that poem were not uttered first by the poet. Rather, the lines

intentionally or not

were a paraphrase of a statement made

by Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address.

Restrictive guidelines can be used to destroy the integrity of a

subject matter, can do violence to a work of art, can destroy his-

tory. I can only hope that the members of the Board will take ac-

tion that will put Texas in the forefront of the states that hav 3

statewide textbook adoption by dropping all restrictive guidelines

and by encouraging publishers to publish excellent textbooks that

reflect the best thinking in all subject areas, that present a variety

of ideas, that stimulate thinking, that demand critical thinking, and

that help produce a nation of thinking, productive Americans.10

21. How has the Texas textbook adoption process been

changed?

Until 1983 the Texas State Textbook Committee permitted only

those persons who objected to textbooks to testify at the public hear-

ings. But in 1983 Barbara Parker, Director of the Freedom to Learn

Project of People for the Americvn Way (PFAW), and Michael Hud-

son, director of PFAW's Txcas office, lobbied for a review of the adop-

tion process. The Texas State Board of Education conducted a public

hearing in May m: which at least 30 speakers spoke for and against the

process. (I had the privilege of speaking for the National Council of

Teachers of English against the system. See question 20.) As a result

of that hearing and many other meetings orchestrated by PFAW, the

adoption process has been changed so that people who support cer-

tain textbooks may speak at the hearings. Other changes also have been

made. The elected state board will be abolished and an appointed board

will take its place. The Texas legislature passed a bill that removed

the power of the Texas Commissioner of Education to overrule recom-

mendations of the Texas State Textbook Committee. And the Texas

Attorney Genr:al has declared unconstitutional that section of the

adoption proclamation that calls for the origins of humankind to be

balanced between evolution and creationism.

7 6

40 Questions and Answers

Since 1961

the Gablers have been granted an increasing amount of

time each year for their testimony against textbooks submitted for

adoption. In

1981,

for example, they were allotted more than eight

hours of the week-long hearings. But in

1983,

after the process was

changed, the Gablers were allotted only six minutes

the same as

everyone else.

22. Has the Moral Majority been involved in textbook

protest?

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, wrote an arti-

cle titled "Textbooks in Public Schools: A Disgrace and Concern to

America" for the 4 May 1979

issue of

Journal Champion,

a publica-

tion of his Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. He

wrote:

To 1,-ri rig charges against textbooks may sound extreme, but we

should be concerned. The vast majority of Americans are the "Mor-

al Majority." They want America to remain a great democratic so .

ciety built on (1)

laws, (2) the Constitution, and (3) a devotion

to truth.

To oppose textbooks is not the same as book burning. This is

not an attempt to censor the books of our schools. But where there

are mistakes, they must be corrected . .

Falwell then pointed out mistakes in textbooks by quoting Norma and

Mel Gabler (see question 19). Then he observed: "Textbook writers

are humanists and evolutionists." He added that when the writers ap-

prove premarital sex, they deceive young people even though the

writers have good intentions. He added: "A man may have a good in-

tention of killing a burglar who is breaking into his home, but if he

aL:cidently shoots his son who is coming home late, his good inten-

tions cannot undo the harm." He then declared that textbooks "de-

ceive our young people about premarital sex, about the role of the

father and the mother in the home, and even about history."2

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Only a week before that article was published, Falwell launched a

new phase of his Clean Up America campaign before an estimated

15,000 Christian "activists" in Washington, D.C. In the company of

five senators and two representatives who joined him

on the Capitol

steps, he declared that most public school textbooks are nothing more

than "Soviet propaganda." He added: "In school textbooks, pornogra-

phy, obscenity, vulgarity and profanity are destroying our children's

moral values in the guise of 'value clarification' and 'sex education.'

Our children are being trained to deny their 200-year heritage. We

must rise up in arms to throw out every textbook Ithat seeks to deny

children their American heritager3

Followers of Falwell have heeded his words well. Shortly after the

presidential election of 1980, incidents of book protest rose sharply

(see question 3). Reports of individuals walking into libraries and

schools, demanding removal of books in the name of the Moral Majori-

ty, circulated throughout the nation. The Moral Majority of North Caro-

lina, Inc., sent a 30-page report to its members, citing objections to

a variety of schoolbooks it had targeted and denouncing the religion

of secular humanism. The cover letter on the report urged readers to

read the objections to the textbooks, complete the attached coupon,

and mail a check to the state Moral Majority office to support the cause.

The state chairman of the Moral Majority noted in that letter "Work-

ing together we can turn this problem around and make our schools

learning centers, where a high school graduate can function at a 12th

grade level, where the schools support the family and are not engaged

in values clarification, promotion of sexual promiscuity, secular hu-

manism and paperback trash."4

In an interview published in the Raleigh News & Observer,

H. Lamarr Mooneyham, state chairman of the North Carolina Moral

Majority, said: "Our crusade is to demonstrate the presence of secular

humanism in the public schools. It's a philosophical problem. The Bi-

ble is not against books, it's against humanism."5

According to a feature story distributed by the Los Angeles Times

on 22 March 1981, the Rev. Jerry Falwell sent a fund-raising letter to

his followers in which he attacked Our Bodies, Ourselves. In the let-

ter, Fah.

ll asked: "Do you want your children or the children of your

loved olies reading this type of immoral trash?

I don't know

40 Questions and Answers

what this country is coming to when some of our schools openly teach

that premarital sex is not sinful

that the moral values that you and

I grew up with are outdated and backward." He then urged citizens

to 'examine school libraries and textbooks 'f,.or "immoral, anti-family

and anti-American content" and to notify the Moral Majority of their

discoveries.6

The state chairman of the Moral Majority in Illinois said that "I would

think that moral-minded people might object to books that

are

philosophically alien to what they believe. If they have the books and

feel like burning them, fine."

On 23 November 1980 the Lynchburg, Virginia, News & The Daily

Advance reported:

The human sexuality chapters of "Life and Health" were attacked

in a Moral Majority fund-raising letter earlier this month.

"I think it's about time that you and I, as decent Americans, put

an end to this filth and perversion once and for all," Falwell said

in the letter.

The letter was meant to shock people into checking into their

local curriculum, said Cal Thomas, Moral Majority vice president

for communications. He said 'Lif.! and Health" was used as an

ex-

ample because it is one of the worst books being used.

Thomas hasn't seen the book. The letter was prepared by a Rich-

mond marketing firm. "We've seen enough and have enough ex-

cerpts from it to extrapolate from there," he said.7

A year later, Cal Thomas said that the Moral Majority is not behind

any move to censor books. He claimed that "too many people confuse

it with other fundamentalist religious groups." He said the Moral Majori-

ty opposes censorship.6

In 1983 Cal Thomas wrote Book Burning, in which he claimed that

the Moral Majority was not censoring books. Instead, he charged that

the liberal secularists and the librarians were censoring ideas by keep-

ing conservative books out of public libraries and bookstores.

Few people who study the schoolbook protest movement agree with

Cal Thomas and the Moral Majority about who is censoring books. The

Falwell fund-raising letters, his comments on his Old Time Gospel

Hour, and his incessant attacks on secular humanism, which he main-

tains is the religion of the public schools, give testimony to his atti-

tude toward books with which he and the Moral Majoi1ty do

not agree.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

23. What other organizations are involved in the pro-

test movement?

No one can say exacdy how many national, state; ,,ind locai ors

zations protest schoolbooks in America. The .sumlrer changcb

month to month, since some local groups are formed to protest a sin-

gle book and then disband. Other groups are formed for the same rea-

son and remain intact for years.

When I wrote Censors in the Classroom in 1979, I said that I could

identify at least 200 national, state, and local organizations that pro-

test schoolbooks. Immediately after the publication of the book, I

learned that a professor in Minnesota had listed more than 70 school-

book protest groups in that state alone. I received other reports that

convinced me that my estimate of 200 was extremely conservative.

Given the number of national organizations with local chapters and

considering the ever-increasing number of protest incidents, I would

estimate that there are no fewer than 2,000 national, state, and local

organizations in the nation that protest textbooks and other teaching

materials

among other activities.

How large does a local group need to be in order to have an impact

on the schools? I know of one group of probably not more than five

members who monitor all books in one school system. The small group

has a name, a letterhead, and an inordinately powerful voice for its

size. When it wants to, it gets attention in the media. No one knows

the size of the rrganization; that is kept secret. But many people in

the ..;.ommunity a..e well aware of its activities.

Another group of seven has kept a school system on the West Coast

on the alert for several years. Firmly 1s:lieving that the public schools

are preaching the religion of secular humanism, that small organiza-

tion makes headlines with its atta. 't on schoolbooks and courses.

Not all protesting groups give themselves names, and some change

their names frequently. Reporting on the activities of one group, an

assistant superintendent wrote:

During the

yearlong siege, we never were certain of how perva.

sive dissatisfaction was, although the leaders of the dissent claimed

they represented "the majority" of the community. Then, too, the

group's name changed as the issues progressed: "Citizens Con-

6 0 70

40 Questions and Answers

cerned with Education in Sylvania" becarns: "flitizelis Concerned

with Preserving Our Traditional Heritage.- +% !iich in turn became

the "Committee for Scientific Creationism in the Scnools," which

finally evolved into the "Alliance for Better Education." Despite

these name changes, the groups' leadership cdtcays was the same

15 or 20 individuals who formed a type of interlocking direc-

torate. The groups' membership rose and fell according to the spe-

cific issue under discussion, but the leaders remained the same.'

The following is a list of nearly 100 organizations that can be identi-

fied as existing at the time of the publication of this book. In my esti-

mation, they represent only a twentieth of the number, since

organizations like Eagle Forum, Stop Textbook Censorship, Pro-Family

Forum, and Moral Majority have state and local chapters or groups in

every state. (An asterisk indicates a national organization.)

Allen County Education Information Committee, Inc., Fort Wayne,

Indiana

Alliance for Better Education, Sylvania, Ohio

American Association for the Advancement of Atheism, San Diego,

California

American Christians in Education, Culver City, California

American Humanist Association, San Francisco, California

American Education Association °

American Education Coalition* (This organization was formed in 1983

and includes these organizations: Save Our Schools, Citizens for

Educational Freedom, the National Christian Action Coalition, the

National Association of Evangelicals, the American Legislative Ex.

change Council, United Families of America, and the National Pro-

Family Coalition. That is the organizational membership announced

in the Washington Times, 2 June 1983.)

Anw.rica's Future, Inc.'

American Society of Atheists°

Billy James Hargis' Christian Crusade,* Tulsa, Oklahoma

The John Birch Society*

California Monitor of Education

Centre County Chapter of Citizens Concerned for Human Life, State

College, Pennsylvania

Citizens Advocating a Voice in Education (CAVE), Georgia

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Christian Anti-Communism Crusade,' Long Beach, California

Citizens Coalition, Albany, New York

Citizens Committee for Excellence in Education,

Walnut Creek,

California

Citizens Committee of California, Inc., Fullerton, California

Citizens Committee on Education, Pinellas County,

Florida

Citizens for Decency in Public Schools, Jefferson

County, Kentucky

Citizens for Educational Reform'

Citizens United for Responsible Education (CURE),

Montgomery Coun-

ty, Maryland

Colorado Committee to Upgrade Public Education (CUPE)

Committee for Positive Education, Warren, Ohio

Committee for Responsible Education, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Concerned Citizens of Elkader, Iowa

Concerned Citizens of Middletown Valley, Middletown,

Maryland

Concerned Parents of Monticello, Iowa

Concerned Parents and Taxpayers for Better Education,

Concord, New

York

Concerned Parents and Taxpayers for Better Education,

Nashua, New

Hampshire

Concerned Women of America'

Council on Interracial Books for Children'

Creation-Science Research Center'

Daughters of the American Revolution'

Decatur Committee for Decency, Decatur, Texas

Decency in Education, Fort Myers, Florida

The Eagle Forum'

Educational Research Analysts'

Educational Voucher Institute*

Fair Echication Foundation, Inc., Clermont, Florida

Freder:,

i'ounty Civic Federation, Frederick, Maryland

Freedcir,.

...nn Religion Foundation, Madison, Wisconsin

Guardians of Traditional Education, Bowie, Maryland

Growing Without Schooling*

Guardians of Education for Maine (GEM)

The Heritage Foundation'

Humanist Quest for Truttt, Brighton, Colorado

40 Questions and Answers

Indiana Home Circle, Bloomington, Indiana

Informed Moral Persons Against Contrary Teaching (IMPACT), Roots-

town, Ohio

Institute of American Ideals*

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)*

Learn, Inc.*

Let's Improve Today's Education,* Phoenix, Arizona

Maryland Coalition of Concerned Parents on Privacy Rights in Public

Schools

Th,, National Congress for Educational Excellence°

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People° (occa-

sional activity by a local chapter)

National Association for Neighborhood Schools, Inc.°

National Association of Home Education°

National Organization for Women (NOW)*

Parents for Academic and Responsible Education (PARE),* Palm

Beach, Florida

Parents for Basic Education, Lapeer, Michigan

Parents of Minnesota, Inc.

Parents' Rights, Inc.*

People Have a Say in Education (PHASE),* Yucaipa, California

People of America Responding to the Educational Needs of Today's

Society (PARENTS), Kenosha, Wisconsin

People Who Care, Warsaw, Indiana

Posse Comitatus°

Pro-Family Forum*

Reading Reform Foundation,* Scottsdale, Arizona

Santa Clara County Citizens Action Committee Opposing Family Life

Education, San Jose, California

The Soc:ety of Evangelical Agnostics, Fresno, California

Save Our Schools (SOS)*

Sequoia Institute*

Stop Textbook Censorship Committee*

Texas Society of the Daughters of the A-African Revolution

Tomorrow River Concerned Parents, Amherst, Wisconsin

WATCH, Linthicurn. Maryland

We Love Our Children, Westfield, Indiana

Young Parents Alert, Lake Elmo, Minnesott:

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

24. How are the organizations affiliated?

Shordy after it was formed, the American Education Coalition con-

sisted of sever: organizations concerned about public and private edu-

cation ee question 23). The affiliation of those organizations is quite

obvious; such is not the case with many other schoolbook protest or-

ganizations.

A common link to hundreds of national, state, and local organiza-

tions is provided by Norma and Mel Gabler and their Educational Re-

search Analysts (see question 19). Writing about the Gablers in Texas

Monthly, William Martin commented that they have become "an in-

tegral institution of the New Right, whose agenda they share almost

poilit for point. Their work is commended by Moral Majority leader

Jerry Falwell, anti-ERA activist and Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schla-

fly, and New Right direct-mail expert Richard Viguerie. They partici-

pate in gatherings sponsored by such New Right organizations as the

Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress and the Texas-based

Pro-Family Forum."I

Affiliations of schoolbook protesting organizations have as much right

to exist as do associations that link doctors; lawyers, teachers, or

ministers. However, the affiliations should be known to school person-

nd who have to respond to groups that are protesting school materi-

als. Then they will understand why so many of the protesters have

t)-ie same targets, use almost identical rhetoric, and cite the same "ob-

jectionable" pars;ages in library books and textbooks. The realization

that a small, local group is affiliated with a larger organization or group

of organizations should help local school officials respond to the charges

and inform local citizens about the total agenda of the complaining

group.

8 4 74

40 uestions and Ahswers

25. What is the religion of secular In .n ,anism?

Rev. Tim LaHaye, a California minister and one of the founders of

the Moral Majority, attacks the religion of secular humanism in his best-

books, sermons, speeches, and television appearances. In The

le for the Mind, he declared: "Most of the evils of the world today

call be traced to humanism, which has taken over the government,

the UN, education, TV, and most of the other influential things of

life." In his The Battle for the Public Schools, LaHaye charges that

humanists have invaded public classrooms. brainwashing children with

ideas about evolution, sex, death, socialism, internationalism, and sit-

uation ethics. Humanists, aecordin-` to LaHaye, are "secular edmators

who nc, longer Inake learning `21eir primary objective. Instead our public

schools halve become condu;ss

,ha minds of youth, training them

to be anti-G-Jd, antimoral,

anti-free enterprise, and anti-

Americzz "2

What is thit'. "religion" that enrages the Moral Majority and that has

led to numerous attacks on the nation's publi c. schools, their libraries,

their teachers, and 'their te., :books? Definitions abound. But one of the

most common is distribu%:.i by Norma and Mel Gabler through their

Educational Research Analysts, which they call the nation's largest text-

book review clearinghouse. Part of that definition foilcnvs:

Humanam is faith in man instead of faith in God. Humanism was

officially ruled a religion by the US. Supreme Court. Humanism

promotes: (1) situation ethics, (2) evolution, (3) sexual freedom, in-

cluding public sex education courses, and (4) internationalism .

Humanism centers on "self" because it recognizas no higher be-

ing to which man is responsible. Thus there is much emphas...

in public education on each child having a "positive self-concept "

The child must see a good picture of himself. This eliminates com.

,1g to Christ for forgiveness a sin. It eliminates the Christian at-

ributes of meekness and humility. Where does selfestecrn end

and arrogance begin?

Such terms as seltconcept, self-elteem, selfawareness, self.

acceptance, seltfulfillment, seitrealizadon, seltunderstanding, self.

actualization, body awareness, etc. are frequently used. All leave

the students occupied primarily with themselves and this is wronl;

The Schoolth:u!. Protest Movement

Th-re are others to consider. Self-centered persons are seldom

;'..sset to themselves, to their friends, family or country.3

That definition has been expanded several times to include

targets of the schoolbook protes:ers. For example, Rev. Lal-laye devotes

27 pages of his The Battlefor the Public Schools to prove that secular

humanism has all "the marking5" of a religion.4 In that chapter and

others, he attacks these "hallmarks" of secular humanism: the look-

say method of reading, values clarifieition, death education, global edu-

cation, evolution, sex education, total reading freedom, the "negation"

of Christianity in the schools, and socialism, among others.5

But regardless how much is written about secular humanism and how

many definitions are circulated, it is interesting that few persons can

define th.: religion of secular humaniszr even though they

say it is cor-

rupting youth. One organizer of parent protest groups defined the re

ligion on a national television program as "the philosophy of anything

goes."6 Another school critic told a school board that humanism is the

"belief that if something feels good, do it." Others believe that the Su.

preme Court established secular humanism as the rvgigion of the pub-.

lic schools when it "removed God" from classrooms in the

(1-45.7) of

Abington v. Schempp. That belief is supported by Senator Je.,se

who wrote:

When the U.S. Supreme Court prohibked children from partic'.

ing in voluntary prayers in public schools, the conclusion

capable that the Supreme Court not only violated the right ci fret!

exercise of religion of all Americans; it aiso established a national

religion in the United States

the religion of secular humanism.7

What, then, is secular humanism? As used by the criti eL. of t!-e pub-

lic school

it seems to be a "buzz word" that is applied to anything

that the critics do noc like and want

remove from the schools. (See

questions 26, 27, 26, and 29.)

40 Questions and Answers

26. What do the protesters hope to accomplish by prov-

ing that the schools promote the religion of secular

humanism?

If the protesters succeed in taking a case to the Supreme Court in

which they can prove that the public schools actually preach the re-

ligion of secular humanism, they could achtwe several goals. The sepa-

ration of church and state as guaranteed by the First Amendment

prohibits the schools from teaching a specific religion. Therefore, if

the court determines that the schools are preaching secular human-

ism, then they would have to stop teaching any and all of the tenets

of that religion. Thus, the protesters could rid the schools of ser..

cation, values clarification ,leath education, evolution, and a 1

subjects and topics that thcv maintain are hallmarks of secular --

manism.

If the Supreme Court

:d not t..rder the public schools to stop teath-

ing the subjects that might be labeled secular humanism, then the pro-

testers could demand equal time and money for their religions to be

taught in the public schools, or, more likely, they could demand feder-

al and state money for their private schools.

27. What arguments do the protesters offer to substan-

tiate their charges that the schools preach the re-

ligion of secular humanism?

Essentially the same argument is repeated in the literature of New

Right organizations and in the more than 20 books they use to sup-

pert the allegation that secular humanism is the religion of the public

schoola. Here is how it goes. John Dewey and 33 other liberal hu-

manists" signed Humanist Maniffi.Ao I in 1933. B.F. Skinner signed

Humanist Manifesto II in 1973. Since those two prominent educa-

tors, among othe signed the documents, it follows goes the argu-

ment

that all educators subscribe to the tenets of the manifestos,

which members of the New Right call the bibles of public school

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

teachers. Next, since there is an American Humanist Association (AliA)

that publishes articles about secular humanism and its goals, it follows

goes the argument

that America's public school teachers belong

to the organization and read its journals. Finally, since the Supreme

Court declared secular human -.Tri to be a religion, the spreading of

the doctrine of humanism in the public schools

the argument con-

tinues

is in direct violation of the First Amendment.

28. What arguments can be used to refute the charge

that the schools preach secular humanism?

There ar r.

at least four flaws in the argument that members of the

New Fight advance to prove that secular humanism is the religion of

the .schools. First, probably no more than .3% of the public school

teachers and administrators in this nation even know about

let alone

have read

either Ihtmanist Manifesto.' Second, ti.ousands of to-

day's teachers know pitifully little about John Dewey and his philosc

phy of education. Sin'

because a prominent educator called himself

a secular humanist, it does not follow that all who enter the teaching

profession are secular humanists.

txl, the Moral Majority and other New Right organizations attrib-

ute great influence over education to the American Humanist Associ-

ation (AHA), the publisher of the manifestos. But AliA has fewer than

4,000 members, and only a handful of the nation's two million teachers

and admininrators even know about AliA

let alone call themselves

rth, the Supreme Court did not declare secu..,i human-

ism tr .

glf!igion. In the frequently cited case of Toreww v. Wat-

ft.uzilote is inclued: "Among religionF in this country which

do not teach -rhat would generally be consickted a belk

the exis-

tence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Human .

ism and others."2 In a second cane that is often cited,3 there i3 a

footnote referring to Toreaso. Two footnotes hardly constitute

Su-

preme Court declaration.

But the battle over secular humanism has only begun. In June 1984

Congress passed the Education for Economic Security Act of 1984 with

40 Questions and Answers

an amendment on magnet schools assistance that was inn oduced by

Senator Orrin Hatch. Section 709 of that amendment reads as follows:

"Grants uncle. -nis title may not be used for consultants, for transpor-

tation, or for ally activity which does not augment academic improve-

ment., or for any course of instruction the substance of which the LEA

[local education agency] determines is secular humanism."4

Referred to as the secular humanism ban, the amendment provoked

protest from professional organizations that consider it to be danger-

ous to public school education. As noted it; question 25, the school-

book protesters who are convinced that secular humanism is the

religion of the public schools have difficulty defining it. Now the LEAs

must define it if thcy have magnet schools. The question is: Why should

the LEAs define it? Why has it not been defined by the author of the

amendment or by the Department of E .'ocation ir i-s regulations? What

is the purp3se of the amendment? How can it be moito rid the schools

of courses that the New Right opposes?

The American Civil Liberties Union called the amendment a "license

for local school boards to suppress any disfavored ideas, simply by label-

ing those ideas 'secular humanism'."5 In challenging the constitution-

ality of the amendment, the ACLU called it "an extraordinary federal

intrusion into local education policy, animated by hostility to basic

First Amendment values of tolerance, open-mindedness, and religious

neutrality."6 As this book was going to press in November 1985, Con-

gress dropped the 16-word secular humanism clause from the

amendment.

29. How have the courts responded to the charge that

the public schools preach sectelr humanism?

Federal courts in the states of Washington and Tennessee have

sidered the secular humanism charge during, the last three years. In

both cases, the plaintiffs accused the schools of indoctrinating children

with the religion of secular humanism through books that were used

in different classes. In both cases, the judges in the trial courts dismissed

Ma Schoolbook Protest Movement

the suits on the grounds that insufficient evidence had been presented

to back the charges.

In Grove v. Mead, Michael Farris, the former president of the Moral

Majority in the state of Washington, sued a school district for refusing

to remove Gordon Parks' The Learning Tree from the curriculum. Far-

ris, who is an attorney, charged that when the school system refused

to remove the book, it violated students' First Amendment rights by

imposing on them the religion of secular humanism) The circuit

court of appeals upheld the lower court's decision, and Farris has ap-

pealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which has not yet acted

on the case.

Michael Farris also was involved in the second suit

this time in

Tennessee. Acting as the attorney for Beverly Lailaye's

..oncerned

Women for America, Farris filed a brief for a case that began in Church

Hill, Tennessee. In Mozert et al. v. Hawkins County Public Schools,

the parents of children in elementary and junior high schools alleged

that the First Amendment rights of their children were violated when

they were forced to study secular humanism as prest-nted in the Holt,

Rinehart & Winston basal readers.2 After the tria! court dismissed the

suit, Farris appe.f.,ted to the circuit court of appeals, which has remanded

the case to the lower court for trial in March 1986.

30. What is the Hatch Amendment and what does it

9 do with the schoolbook protest movement?

amendment on pvehological t sting h :ame part of Pub-

.5-561 on 1 November 1978. The amendment follows:

Protection of Pupil Rights

(a)

All instructional material, includir:g teacher's manuals, films, tapes,

or other supplementary instructionai material which will be used in connec-

tion with any research or experimental program or project ei'sall be availa-

ble for inspection by the parents or guardians of the children engaged in

such program or project. For the purpose of this section "research or ex-

perimentation program or project" means any program or woject fin any ap-

40 Questions and Answers

plicable program designed to explore or develop new or unproven teaching

methods or techniques.

(b) No student shall be required, as part of any applicable program, to

submit to psychiatric examination, testing, or treatment, or psychoiogical

oxaminatien, testing, or treatment, in which the primary purpose is to re-

vet., information concerning:

affiliations;

(2) mental and i23ychologicai problems potentially embarrassing to the

student or his family;

(3) sex behavior and attitudes;

(4) illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating anr4 demeaning behavior;

(5) critical appraisals of other individuals wito wham respondents have

close family reiationships;

(6) legally recognized privileged and analogous relationships, such as

those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers, or

(7) income (other than that required by law to determine eligibility for par-

ticipation in a program or for receiving financial assistance under such

program), without prior consent of the student (if the student is an

adult or emancipated minor), or in the case of unemancipated mi-

nor, without the prior written consent of the parent.

Little attention was

paid to the amendment until Phyllis Sch Idly and

the Eagle Forum persuaded the Department of Educa: ion to conduct

a series of public hearings on it in 1984. The heafings led to the im-

plem Atation orders in November 1984 as well as to the publication

of Schlafly's Child Abuse in the Classroom, which consists of excerpts

from "official transcripts" of the hearings.

Two months after the implementation order, the Eagle Forum pub-

lished a copy of a letter to school board presidents prepared by the

Maryland Coalition of Concerned Parents on Privacy Rights in Public

Schools. By February 1985 the letter had been

fitted to school

boards by parents in 17 states who thought

tc4i Amendment

applied to classroom activities as well as to psy

ca testing. The

letter is reprinted here as it appeared in The Eagi,..!

Newsletter:

PARENTS; HOW TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS

Here is a sample letter

which you can copy and send to the 7esident of your local Sthool Board

(with copy to your child's school principal) in order to protect parental and

student rights under the Hatch Amendment Regulations effective Nov. 12,

1984. This letter does not ask for the removal of any course or material;

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

it merely demands that the school obey the law and secure written parental

consent before subjecting children to any of the following. Parents are NOT

required to explain their reasons for denying consent.

Date:

To: School Board President

Dear

I am the parent of who attends

School.

Under U.S. legislation and court decisions, parents have the primary respon-

sibility for their children's education, and pupils have certain rights which

the schools may not deny. Parents have the right to assure that their chil-

dren's beliefs and moral values are not undermined by the schools. Pupils

have the right to have and to hold their values and moral standards without

direct or indirect manipulation by the schools through curricula, textbooks,

audio-visual materials, or supplementary assignments.

Accordingly, I hereby request that my child be involved in NO school c .vi-

ties or materials listed below unless I have first reviewed all the relqvant

materials and have given my written consent for their use:

Psychological and psychiatric examinations, tests, or surveys that are

designed to elicit information about attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, be-

liefs, or feelings of an individual or group;

Psychological and psychiatric treatment that is designed to affect behavioral,

emotional, or attitudinal characteristics of an individual or group;

Values clarification, use of moral dilemmas, discussion of religious or mor-

al standards, role-playing or :yen-ended discussions of situations involv-

ing moral issues, and survival games including life/death decision

exercises;

Death education, including abortion, euthanasia, suicide use of violence,

and discussions of death and dying;

Curricula oertaining to alcohol and drugs;

Int ,..ruction in nuclear war, nuclear policy, and nuclear classroom games;

Anti-nationalistic, one-world government or globalism curricula;

Discussion and testing on inter-personal relationships; discussions of atti-

tudes towards parents and parenting;

Education in human sexuality, including pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex,

contraception, abortion, homosexuality, group sex and marriages, prosti-

tution, incest, masturbation, bestiality, divorce, population control, and

roles of males and females; sex behavior and attitudes of student and

family;

9 2

40 Questions and Answers

Pornography and any materials containing profanity and/or sexual ex-

plicitness;

Guided fantasy techniques; hypnotic techniques; imagery and suggestology;

Organic evolution, including the idea that man has developed from previ-

ous or lower types of living things;

Discussions of witchcraft, occultism, the supernatural, and Eastern mys-

ticism;

Political affiliations and beliefs of student and farn.,- personal religious be-

liefs and prentices;

Mental and 7.riy:.;3-nlogical problems and self-incrminating behavior poten-

tially e res,sing to the student or family;

Critical af,r ss;s of other individuals with whom the child has family rela-

tiorml,,.,4,

Legally recognized privileged and analogous reletionships, such as those

of lawyers, physicians, and ministers;

Income, including the student's role in family activities and finances;

Non-academic personality traits; questionnaires on personal and family life

and attitudes;

Autobiography assignments; log books, diaries, and personal journals;

Contrived incidents for self-revelation; sensitivity training, group encounter

sessions, talk-ins, magic circle techniques, self-evaluation and auto-

criticism; strategies designed for self-disclosure (e.g., zig-zag);

Sociograms, sociodrama; psychodrama; blindfold walks; isolation tech-

niques.

The purpose of this letter is to preserve my child's rights under the Protec-

tion of Pupil Rights Amendment (the Hatch Amendment) to the General Edu-

cation Provisions Act, and under its regulations as published in the Federal

lations provide a procedure for filing complaints first at the local level, and

then with the U.S. Department of Education. If a voluntary remedy fails, fed-

eral funds can be withdrawn from those in violation of the law. I respectfully

ask you to send me a substantive response to this letter 'k4taching a copy

of Dur policy statement and procedures for parental pszy

:salon require-

ments, to notify all my child's teachers, and to keep a i;k:gr' .1 this leffer

in my child's permanent file. Thank you for your coope-z-J..>1.

copy to School Principal Sincerely,

Shortly after the regulations had been published and after the afore-

mentioned letter had been distributed in a number of states, Senator

9 3

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Orrin Hatch, author of the Hatch Amendment, attempted to clarify

the intent of his act in a speech on the Senate floor. He said that he

was "amazed at the overreaction of educational lobby groups to the

IEcbcationj Department's regulations."

Directing part of his remarks to such groups as Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle

Forum, Senator Hatch said:

pare zt.;.,.?:-Atris have interpreted both the gatute and the regu.

let 7,,

k.rr

that they would have them apply to all curricu-

lum materiols. txbrary books, teacher guides, et cetera, paid for

with State G. local money. They would have all tests used by

teachers in such non-federally funded courses as physical educa-

tion, health, sociology, literature, et cetera, reviewed by parents

before they could be administered to students. Because there are

no Federal funds in such courses, the Hatch amendment is not

applicable to them. A number of states do, however, have statutes

or State board regulations which do

safeguard these parental rights.

Some other parent groups contend that because school districts

p.:-.eive some Federal funds on a formula basis such as in,-,:act aid,

Chapter 1, et cetera, when a teacher made test is give

that may

ask such pupils to make a value judgment on a topic, this would

invoke the Hatch amendment. This was never the intent of the

Hatch amendment.

Were a school district to use its Chapter 11 funds to establish

experimental, demonstration or testing programs, the primary pur-

pose of which is to elicit the type

information proscribed by

the Hatch amendment, that activity would fall within the purview

of the amendment. A direct relationship can be determined, and

Federal funds would be paying for an activity that could be

challenged under the Department

of Education regulations.

On the othef hand . . .

if the Chapter 11 funds were used to pay

for a course in citizenship

as authorized by Chapter II

and

the local school board agrees to allow a political science graduate

student whose dissertation project is funded from non.Federal

sources to administer a survey which is actually a test

to the

class, and that survey attempts to elicit information about the stu-

dent's perceptions of politics, politicians, people who work for

governments. and so forth, because such questions may cause a

student to divulge his or her

or their parent's

political per-

suasion, a parent mo ask to have their child excused, but

if re

9 4 84

40 Questions and Answers

fused, the relief, it would seem :*.o me, would have to be

on some

basis other than the Hatch amendment.

. .

. there are also those who would have certain courses, such

as sex education, paid for with other than Federal funds, eliminat-

ed from the curriculum. They contend that the Hatch amendment

prevails because in such courses, pupas cannot discuss the

course

content without making some value judgments about sexual be.

havior. Were such a course tt be funded with Chapter 11 funds,

for example, it certainly would be covered by the Hatch amend-

ment and the Department of Education regulations. If the course

is nonfederally funded, the Hatch amendment does not prevail.2

Senator Hatch said that the purpose of the amendment

was "to guar-

antee the right of parents to have their children excused from federal-

ly funded activities under carefully specified circumstances." The

"activities we are talking about are non-scholastic in nature."3

At the beginning of the 1985-86 academic year, the letter distributed

by the Eagle Forum was being used by parents in sevral dozen

states

and in at least one Department of Defense school in Germany. The

confusion over the amendment continued with the

same question be.

ing asked throughout the nation: Which is actually the amendment

what was passed in the Senate or what was published in the letter

distributed by the Eagle Forum? The answer to that question should

be obvious. Unfortunately, members of the Eagle Forum and other

pro-

testing groups do not recognize the obvious answer. Consequently, the

amendment is being used in an attempt to rid the schools of

courses,

teaching materials, and teaching methods that

were apparently not the

target of Senator Hatch when he drafted the amendment.

9 o

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

31. What is the censorship tale of Tell City, and is it a

typical incident?

Tell City, Indiana, experienced a winter of discontent in 1982 when

two ministers and some of their followers accused the school syste

of teaching the religion of secular humanism. Probably no more than

20 citizens in the southern Indiana town had heard of the so-called

religion of the public schools before the charge was made, and proba-

bly no more than that can define the religion new. But hundreds of

Tell City's citizens will not soon forget the phrase; the vehemence with

which it was hurled at the school board, teachers, and administrators;

and the wounds that are slow to heal from the battle over the secular

humanism charge.

When a ninth-grade student showed his mother a few passages in

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, he told her that he did not want

to read the book as part of his class assignment After hearing the corn-

plaint of the mother, the English teacher who had assigned the novel

told the mother that her son could read Stephen Crane's Red Badge

of Courage as independent reading while the rest of the class mad Stein-

beck. The mother and her son apparently accepter( the alternate as-

signment, and later she even told the media that F.

and her son had

been treated well by the teacher. But the mother al% talked with her

minister about the novel, ad he expressed his displeasure with the

assignment, with the Telt City schools in general, and with the Erglish

department in the high school in particular.'

The Rev. Don Reynolds, pastor of the Abundant Life Church, had

just opene.' a Christian academy in Tell City. He told his congregation

and at I,

t one other minister about the "evil" novel. The two ministers

prepared a petition to be presented to the school board; and at the

January meeting, a group of 10 demanded that books "containMg pro-

fanity And suggesti-

remarks" not be used in the schools. Then the

m;nister from nearb: Hawesville, Kentucky, who was acting as

spokesperson for t

g: cup, accused the school board of being "anti-

God." That evening marked the beginning of a three-month school-

book protest that brought television cameras, nationally prominent text

book protesters, and divisive,, .ss to the town nestled in the bend of

the Ohio River.

9 6

40 Questions and Answers

Shortly after the mother asked for the alternate assignment, mem-

bers of the Tell City School Board discovered that they had never for-

mally adopted their four-year-old policy for handling complaints about

teaching materials. So the five-member board voted unanimously to

make the policy official.

No ono in Tell City, Indiana

nor the minister from Hawesville,

Kentucky

completed a complaint form calling for a review of Stein-

beck's Of Mice and Men. Nor did anyone sign a complaint form about

Finding My Way, a textbook used in an elective sex education course

for seventh and eighth grades. Instead, a small group led by a minister

from a neighboring state protested the teaching of both books at the

January meeting of the school board and used the local radio station

and newspaper to condemn the books and the school system.

The minister from Kentucky presented the Tell City School Board

with a petition signed by approximately 60 persons. The Rev. Steve

Epley charged that the ninth-grader was "required" to read Of Mice

and Men. The minister then read this statement from a letter attached

to the petition:

When he refused to read the book, he was barred from English

class and forced to spend the entire period in a small room by

himself with a thicker book and no assistance from his teacher.

We ask your help in our fight to clean up the garbage in Tell City

High School's English department. We, as Christians, need to take

a stand against Satan's attack upon the minds

of our youth.

Answering the charges during the board meeting, Robert Waters,

the

ninth-grader's English teacher, said that no student in the high school

is ever "required" to read a given novel or play and that the

boy was

assigned to read The Red Badge of Courage on his own in the English

office during regular class time. Waters said the "small room" the Rev.

Epley referred to is an English resource room that is about half the

size of a conventional classroom.

Several days after the January meeting of the board, the Rev.

Epley,

writing a guest column for the Tell City News, raised the specter

secular humanism with these words:

I am very much concerned about the humanist teachings in our

public schools.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

What is Humanism? It is religion without God.

It is education

without God. It is the condition of

man as described in the Bible

(Romans 1:28) "

. .. they did not like to retain God in their knowl-

edge . .." and the results are indeed tragic.

The Humanist is more dangerous than the atheist.

At least, an

atheist will come right out and say he doesn't believe

in God. A

humanist will say, "Yes, I believe there is a God, but

.. .1 also be-

lieve in evolution."

The atheist is like a rattlesnake. He will make

some noises be-

fore he bites you. But the Humanist is

more like a boa constric-

tor. He will silently squeeze you to death with his Godless

philosophies before you know what happened.

With those words, Tell City's teachers joined the

ranks of thousands

who have been charged with "preaching the

religion of secular human-

ism" in the public schools. And like the thousands

who have been so

charged, Tell City's teachers were

unaware of the crimes they were

allegedly committing against society. They did

not attend a church

called Secular Humanist

in fact, they could not find one in Indiana

if they tried. They could not define the

religion, nor could they state

its major beliefs. Yet they stood accused of spreading

some ill-defined

doctrine that their accusers could not define and

that prompted one

minister in Tell City to call them "pagans and heathens"

on a radio

program. Another minister called school board members

and the su-

perintendent "rotten, stinking hypocrites who

are spreading the reli-

gion of humanism through sex education."

Not all of the ministers in Tell City thought the

schools were teach-

ing secular humanism. Early in the controversy, three

Catholic priests

and four Protestant ministers sent

a joint letter to the superintendent,

expressing their support for the school system. Several

civic groups

and organizations did the same.

Shortly after the Rev. Epley denounced the

humanists in Tell City,

a small group of citizens began compiling objections

to some of the

materials used in the public schools. At the February

meeting of the

school board, the Rev. Reynolds condemned the school

system for al-

lowing students to play Dungeons & Dragons

in classrooms. He ques-

tioned the educational value of the game and

made reference to the

Supreme Court ruling that no longer permits

prayer in public schools.

"And yet this game teaches children

to pray to gods and they will

9 8

40 Questions and Answers

receive power. . . .

magical power by praying to these gods," the minis-

ter said. He then showed the school board a picture which he said came

from a book written by the founder of the First Church of Satan. The

minister said that the picture "shows a nude lady lying on an altar,

and this is part of their ritual as they worship Satan. You will find in

one of the D&D (Dungeons & Dragons/ manuals a picture of the same

altar with the same thing happening."

The minister then expressed his fear that if children are exposed to

such material in the game manual, "they will pursue the interest and

eventually wind up with the same pornography. We look at the pic-

ture in the book and it shows nude women, which according to the

Supreme Court is classified as pornography, and if that's acceptable

in our public school classrooms, then something's wrong."

Several students took issue with the minister's statements. In an in-

terview published in the Tell City News, one student was quoted as

having said: "The basic premise of the game is to overcome evil. It

seems to me the minister was confused. He was confusing what the

characters do in the game as opposed to what people do. He made

some comments that were not entirely true .

. .1 heard him tell some-

body that he only bought the manual la handbook for Dungeons &

Dragons] that night. I think if he understood the game better, he would

have no grounds to be opposed to it."

Throughout the schoolbook controversy in Tell City, Superintendent

William Wilson patiently explained that Dungeons & Dragons is played

in a non-credit mini-course by students who elect the class. He also

pointed out that no picture of a nude woman appears anywhere in the

manual that accompanies the game. He further explained

again and

again throughout the protest

that no students are forced to take sex

education; rather, they elect to take it and they must have parental

permission to do so.

On February 16, the Rev. Reynolds announced that Norma and Mel

Gabler would appear at a rally at the National Guard Armory in Tell

City at the end of the month (see question 19). Illness forced Norma

to stay at home in Longview, Texas; consequently, Mel was the prin.

cipal speaker.

Approximately 300 persons, including the chairperson of Phyllis

Schlafly's Stop Textbook Censorship Committee, attended the rally.

9 9

The Schoolbook Protest Movernent

Reporters estimated that at least one-third of the audience was there

to show support of the school system.

In his speech, Mel Gabler attacked the religion of secular human-

ism, sex education, Dungeons & Dragons, and textbooks in general.

l le cited many passages in textbooks

only one of which was used

in Tell City

to reinforce his belief that many of today's textbooks

are dangerous because they promote evolution as unquestioned scien-

tific fact, situation ethics, sex education, world citizenship, and social-

ism

all of which he believes are tenets of the religion of secular

humanism.

Shortly after Mel Gabler noted that students in Tell City are forced

to take sex education, he had to retract that statement when he was

informed that sex education is an elective course. But he did accuse

the school system of teaching "frills not skills," and he stated emphati-

cally that standardized test scores in Tell City had declined steadily.

The superintendent, school board members, teachers, and adminis-

trators refuted the charges of Mel Gabler and others during the March

meeting of the school board. Test scores have risen

not declined

the audience was told, and evidence was offered to support that state-

ment. The basics are stressed in regular academic courses; Dungeons

& Dragons is played only in a non-credit, elective mini-course. The

school authorities repeated again and again: no student is required to

take sex education; parental consent is required before a student may

take the elective course.

At the beginning of the March meeting of the board, Superintendent

Wilson explained that the entire meeting would be devoted to the

charges made during the January and February board meetings, as well

as to the allegations made on radio programs, in newspapers, and at

the rally. At the conclusion of the three-hour session, Anthony Pap-

pano, president of the school board, read a statement in which he

charged that the protesters used questionable tactics to protest the

books. According to Pappano, the school critics did not follow the proce-

dures for objecting to books; rather, he charged that the critics used

the mass media and the rally to distort the truth and to make false

and libelous statements. He promised that future school board meet-

ings would not be used "as a forum by self-righteous groups to pro-

mote their personal beliefs. There will be no further discussion by the

40 Questions and Answers

board on the topic of censorship until all interested parties have fol-

lowed the established procedures of this school corporation." Finally,

Pappano warned that if the protesting group persisted in using its

present tactics and if it continued to make false and

libelous statements

about the school system and its employees, "we are prepared to take

any and all legal action necessary to defend the

constitutional rights

of individuals associated with this corporation, including the educa-

tional rights of our children."

The Rev. Reynolds scheduled no further rallies as he had promised.

He did not bring Norma Gabler, Phyllis Schlafly, and Billy O'Hair to

Tell City. Rather, he closed his Christian academy and left the com-

munity. The teachers, administrators, and school board members

returned to the task of providing a solid education for the students in

the community. But the events of the winter of 1982 have not been

forgotten, and the scars are slow to heal.

The schoolbook protest at Tell City contains many of the ingredients

common to incidents elsewhere in the country. It is not

unusual to

find at least half

if not all

of the following in organized protests:

1. One book frequently precipitates a protest, but it does not take

long for other books, courses, or activities to be added.

2. Most of the protesters have not read the entire works they find

objectionable. Rather, they take sentences out of context, rely

on the objections of others, and

frequently distort facts.

3. The protesters do not always follow established procedures in

protesting books and courses; rather, they put the questionable

materials on trial in the mass media.

4. The charge that the school system is preaching the religion

secular humanism is spread by the protesters, but few can de-

fine the religion and substantiate the charges.

5. Like the rest of the community, the clergy becomes divided, with

part joining the protesters and with others supporting the schools.

6. Outsiders are brought in to support the protesters.

7. The community is divided.

101

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

32, What can be learned from the Tell

City incident?

Every school system should have

a set of procedures for handling

complaints about books and other teaching materials,

and those

procedures should be followed assiduously.

Every school system should have

a materials selection policy that

covers the selection of textbooks, library books, and all teaching

materials.

If a teacher or librarian is accused of teaching

or disseminating "ob-

jectionable" material, that person should be fully

apprised of the

charge as soon as possible.

The person making the charge should be

encouraged to meet, in

an informal session, with the teacher or librarian accused of teach-

ing or disseminating the "questionable" material.

Any person making a charge against the school

system or against

a specific book, course, teaching method, and

so on, should be giv.

en a fair and courteous hearing.

The school board and school administrators have

every right to an-

swer the charges leveled against a school corporation

or its teach.

ing materials.

Teachers, librarians, administrators, and school board

members have

every right to point out distortions or misrepresentations of

mate-

rial labeled "objectionable."

Teachers, librarians, alministrators, and school board members

must

become familiar with the tactics and vocabulary of schoolbook

pro.

testers.

Administrators and school board members should

note the actions

of the school -officials in the Tell City incident.

They followed their

procedures; they did not panic; they did

not remove books willy-nilly.

Students should not be isolated from the

controversy; rather, they

can learn much by discovering how controversies

can arise and how

they can be resolved.

School officials should not permit unfounded

criticism to interfere

with the educational process.

1 0 2)2

40 Questions and Answers

33. What steps should school systems take to prepare

for censorship attempts?

1. Review the instructional materials selection policy to m ike certain

that it is comprehensive and well written. (See question 35.)

2. Review the procedures for handling complaints about books, teach-

ing materials, courses, and teaching methods. (See questions 36 and

37.)

3. Review the policies and procedures on handling complaints pub-

lished by the American Library Association for ideas that might be

incorporated into local policies and procedures.

4. Make certain that the policies and procedures adopted by the school

system are readily available to all citizens.

5. Select materials that are consistent with the educational objectives

of the school system and of specific classes.

6. Prepare written rationales for controversial materials. Ken Donel-

son, professor of English at Arizona State University, has suggested

that each rationale should address these eight questions:

a. For what classes is this book especially appropriate?

b. To what particular objectives, literary or psychological or peda-

gogical, does this book lend itself?

c. In what ways will the book be used to meet those objectives?

d. What problems of style, tone, or theme, or possible grounds for

censorship exist in the book?

e. How does the teacher plan to meet those problems?

f. Assuming that the objectives are met, how would students be

different because of their reading of this book?

g. What are some other appropriate books an individual student

might read in place of this book?

h. What reputable sources have recommended this book? What

have critics said of it?

7. Make provisions for alternate assignments in those classes in which

such assignments are feasible; for example, an English class in which

novels are E. A:lied.

103

The Sohoolbook Protest Movement

8. Form a support group of persons in the community who are com-

mitted to a sound education for all students.

34. What are the ingredients of a good materials selec-

tion policy?

The Michigan Association for Media in Education included these com-

ponents of a materials selection policy in its 1977 publication, Selec-

tion Policies: A Guide to Updating and Writing.

Preliminary Consideretion

The committee drafting the Instructional Materials Selection Poli-

cy should consider including members of the following groups in or-

der to enlist wide support for the policy: students, teachers, media

specialists, parents, para-professionals, building administrators, sys-

tem administrators, Regional Educational Mated Lls Center staff

(REMC).

A decision should be made at the outset as to whether the policy

will cover all instructional materials or only those purchased by and

housed in the media center.

A local level statement of Instructional Materials Selection Policy

should include (not necessarily in the following order):

1. A statement of the philosophy of materials selection such as

is given in the Library Bill of Rights.

2. A statement that the governing body of the district is legally

responsible for the selection of instructional materials.

3. A statement detailing the delegation of this responsibility to

professional personnel.

4. Criteria for instructional materials selection in the school or

district.

5. Procedures for implementing selection criteria.

6. A routine procedure for challenged materials including:

a. a complaint committee and its make-up;

104

40 Questions and Answers

b. a statement that the procedure is applicable to all individu-

als, including school personnel and board members;

c. a statement of how challenged materials will be handled dur-

ing the period of reconsideration;

d. a statement of whether or not materials will be put through

the entire reconsideration process more than once within a

specified time period.

7. Definitions of critical terms used in the selection policy, for

ex-

ample,

"selection," "instructional materials," "literary merit,"

etc.

35. Are there model instructional materials selection

policies that school systems can use as guides?

The instructional materials selection policies prepared by the Iowa

Department of Public Instruction and by the Madison (Wisconsin)

Metropolitan School District have been used widely as models. The

first model policy statement below is from Selection of Instructional

Materials (Iowa Department of Public Instruction 1977; see Code of

Iowa 279.8, ch. 301).

Model Statement of Policy

The Board of Directors of the

School District hereby

declares it the policy of the District to provide a wide range of in-

structional materials on all levels of difficulty, with diversity of ap-

peal, and the presentation of different points of view and to allow

review of allegedly inappropriate instructional materials.

Model Statement of Rules

Responsibility for Selection of Materials

A. The Board of Directors is legally responsible for all matters

relating to the operation of the

School District.

106

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

B. The responsibility for the selection of instructional materials

is delegated to the professionally trained and certificated

staff

employed by the school system. For the purposes of this rule

the term "instructional materials" includes printed and

au-

diovisual materials (not equipment), whether considered

text

materials or media center materials.

C. While selection of materials involves many people (principals,

teachers, students, supervisors, community

persons and me-

dia specialists), the responsibility for coordinating the selec-

tion

of most instructional

materials and making the

recommendation for purchase rests with certificated media

personnel. For the purpose of this rule the term "media

spe-

cialist" includes librarians, school media specialists

or other

appropriately certificated persons responsible for selection

of media.

D. Responsibility for coordinating the selection of

text materi-

als for distribution to classes will rest with the appropriate

department chairperson or with the Textbook Evaluation

Committee. For the purpose of this rule the term "text materi-

als" includes textbooks and other print and nonprint materi-

als provided in multiple copies for use of a total class

or a

major segment of such a class.

II. Criteria for Selection of Materials

A. The following criteria will be used as they apply:

1. Materials shall support and be consistent with the

gen-

eral educational goals of the district and the objectives

of specific courses.

2. Materials shall meet high standards of quality in factual

content and presentation.

3. Materials shall be appropriate for the subject

area and for

the age, emotional development, ability level, and sod&

development of the students for whom the materials are

selected.

4. Materials shall have aesthetic, literary, or social value.

5. Materials chosen shall be by competent and qualified

authors and producers.

40 Questions and Answers

6. Materials shall be chosen to foster respect for minority

groups, women, and ethnic groups and shall realistically

represent our pluralistic society, along with the roles and

life styles open to both men and women in today's world.

Materials shall be designed to help students gain an

awareness and understanding of the many important con-

tributions made to our civilization by minority groups, eth-

nic groups and women.

Materials shall clarity the multiple historical and contem-

porary forces with their economic, political, and religious

dimensions which have operated to the disadvantage or ad-

vantage of women, minority groups, and ethnic groups. These

materials shall present and analyze intergroup tension and

conflict obiectively, placing emphasis upon resolving social

and economic problems.

Materials shall be desgned to motivate students and staff

to examine their own attitudes and behaviors and to com-

prehend their own duties,

responsibilities,

rights and

privileges as participating citizens in a pluralistic, non-sexist

society.

7. Materials shall be selected for their strengths rather than

rejected for their weaknesses.

8. Biased or slanted materials may be provided to meet

specific curriculum objectives.

9. Physical format and appearance of materials shall be

suitable for their intended use.

B. The selection of materials on controversial issues will be

directed toward maintaining a balanced collection represent-

ing various views.

III. Procedure for Selection

A. Media

1. In selecting materials for purchase f x the media center,

the media specialist will evaluate the existing collection

and the curriculum needs and will consult reputable,

professionally prepared selection aids and other appropri-

ate sources. For the purposes of this rule the term "me-

dia" includes all materials considered part of the library

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

collection, plus ali instructional materials housed in re-

source centers and classrooms (if any) which are not text

materials. For the purpose of this rule, the term "media

center" is the space, room or complex of rooms and

spaces designated as a library, media center, instructional

materials center or similar term. It may include units not

contiguous to the center where facilities dictate. These

units would include but not be limited to resource centers,

production centers, and television studios.

2. Recommendations for purchase will be solicited from

faculty and student body.

3. Gift materials shall be judged by the criteria in Section

II and shall be accepted or rejected by those criteria.

4. Selection is an ongoing process which should include the

removal of materials no longer appropriate and the

replacement of lost and worn materials still of education-

al value.

5. Selections are forwarded to the office of the superinten-

dent or his or her designee (e.g., the district media direc-

tor or the business manager) through the principal or other

person in charge of the attendance center for purchase

throughout the year.

B. Text Material

1. Text materials committees shall be appointed at the time

that text adoption areas are determined. Appropriate sub-

ject area, instructional level, and media personnel shall

be included in each committee.

2. Criteria for text materials consistent with the general criter-

ia for materials selection noted in Section ll shall be de-

veloped by teacher committees.

3. The committee shall present its recommendation(s) to the

superintendent or other designated administrator.

4. The superintendent or his or her designee and the text

materials committee shall present the recommendation(s)

to the board.

108

40 Questions and Answers

IV. Objection:

A. Any resident of the school district may raise objection to in-

structional materials used in the district's educational pro-

gram despite the fact that the individuals selecting such

material were duly qualified to make the selection and fol-

lowed the proper procedure and observed the criteria for

selecting such material.

1. The school official or staff member receiving a complaint

regarding instructional materials shall try to resolve the

issue informally. The materials shall remain in use unless

removed through the procedure in Section IV. B. 6. e. of

this rule.

a. The school official or staff member initially receiv-

ing a complaint shall explain to the complainant the

school's selection procedure, criteria, and qualifications

of ihose persons selecting the material.

b. The school official or staff member initially receiv-

ing a complaint shall explain to the best of his or her abil-

ity the particular place the objected to material occupies

in the educafional program, its intended educational use-

fulness, and additional information regarding its use, or

refer the complaining party to someone who can identify

and explain the use of the material.

(Comment: The vast majority of complaints can be amicably disposed of

in the first stages when the school officials and staff are frequently remind-

ed of the school's procedures. A quick personal conference can often times

solve the problem where a shift into a more formal procedure might Inflate

the problem. While the legal right to object to materials is not expressly

stated, it is implied in such provisions as the right to petition the govern-

ment for redress of grievances.)

2. In the event that the person making an objection to mate-

rial is not satisfied with the initial explanation, the person

raising the question should be referred to someone desig-

nated by the principal or person in charge of the atten-

dance center to handle such complaints or to the media

specialist for that attendance center. If, after private coun-

seling, the complainant desires to file a formal complaint,

99 109

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

the person to whom the complainant has been referred

will assist in filling out a Reconsideration Request Form

in full.

3. The individual receiving the initial complaint shall advise

the principal or person in charge of the attandance cen-

ter where the challenged material is being used, of the

initial contact no later than the end of the following school

day, whether or not the complainant has apparently been

satisfied by the initial contact. A written record of the con-

tact shall be maintained by the principal or other person

in charge of the attendance center.

4. The principal or other person in charge of each attendance

center shall review the selection and objection rules with

the staff at least annually. The staff shall be reminded that

the right to object to materials is one granted by policies

enacted by the Board of Directors and firmly entrenched

in law. They shall also be reminded of ethical and practi-

cal considerations in attempting to handle resident com-

plaints with courtesy and integrity.

B. Request for Reconsideration

1. Any resident or employee of the school district may for-

mally challenge instructional materials used in the dis-

trict's

educational

program

on the

basis

appropriateness. This procedure is for the purpose of con-

sidering the opinions of those persons in the schools and

the community who are not directly involved in the selec-

tion process.

2. Each attendance center and the school district's central

office will keep on hand and make available Reconsider-

ation Request Forms. All formal objections to instruction-

al materials must be made on this form.

3. The Reconsideration Request Form shall be signed by the

complainant and filed with the Superintendent or some-

one so designated by the Superintendent.

4. Within five business days of the filing of the form, the Su-

perintendent or person so designated by the Superinten-

dent shall file

the material in question with the

40 Questions and Answers

Reconsideration Committee for re-evaluation. The Com-

mittee shall recommend disposition to the office of thz, Su-

perintendent.

5. Generally, access to challenged material shall not be

re-

stricted during the reconsideration

process. However, in

unusual circu;nstances, the material may be removed

temporari:y by following the provisions of Section IV. B.

6. e. of this rule.

6. The Reconsideration Committee

a. The Reconsideration Committee shall be made up

of eleven members.

(1) One teacher designated annually by the Superin-

tendent.

(2) One school media specialist designated annually by

the Superintendent.

(3) One member of the central administrative staff desig-

nated annually by the Superintendent. (This position will

normally be filled by the supervisor or person responsi-

ble for the district's media services.)

(4) Five members from the community appointed

an-

nually by the Executive Committee of the Parent-Teacher-

Student Association.

(5) Three high school students, selected annually from

and by the Student Advisory Committee.

(Comment: Subsections (4) and (5) represent a departure from the traditional

approaches of handling challenged school materials and

may well be the

key to the success or failure of this model. A committee with

a majority of

lay members should be viewed by the community as being objective

and

not automatically supportive of prior professional decisions

on selection.

Much of the philosophy regarding the Committee structure

was borrowed

from the policy of the Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar

Rapids, Iowa.

Use of the Parent-Teacher-Student Assuciation in this model is merely

illustrative. Whether the non-educators are selected from the P.T.S.A.

other groups interested in the community's schools is not important.

The

important thing is the establishmint and maintenance of the Committee's

credibility with the community through a majority of nonprofessionals. An

The Schoolbook Protest Movenwnt

appointed committee will generally be more objective than a voluntary com-

mittee.

The method of selecting students for the Committee will depend greatly

upon the size and organization of the district. A district

with several high

schools may want to have one student from each on the committee while

a district with one high school may want one student

representative from

each grade. Student selection of the representatives to this Committee is

very important. Any responsible student group or groups may be

used when

a Student Advisory Committee does not exist in the district.)

b. The chairperson of the Committee shall not be an

employee or officer of the District. The secretary shall be

an employee or officer of the District.

(Comment: It is vital to the operation of this model that a community mem-

ber chair the Reconsideration Committee. Credibility is the watchword.)

c. The Committee shall first meet each year during the

third week in September at a time and place designated

by the Superintendent and made known to the members

of the Committee at least three school days in advance.

d. A calendar of subsequent regular meetings for the

year shall be established and a chairperson and a secre-

tary selected at the first meeting.

(Comment: While many districts may not feel the need to hold regular, per-

haps monthly meetings, it is important to establish a sense of continuity and

regularity about the Committee. The notoriety and excitement caused by

emergency meetings when challenges arise in a community may be

the un-

necessary fuel to cause an ordinary healthy situation to become

distorted

beyond proportion. It is wiser to cancel unnecessary meetings than to call

unexpected ones. Lack of frequent challenges to school materials probably

means that one or more of the following is present: (1) satisfaction

with the

selection process, (2) lack of community interest, (3) belief in the futility of

communication with school district officials, or (4) undue influence on the

selection and weeding processes.)

e. Special meetings may be called by the Superinten-

dent to consider temporary removal of materials in un-

usual circumstances. Temporary removal shall require a

three-fourths vote of the Committee.

112

102

40 Questions and Answers

f. The calendar of regular meetings and notice of spe-

cial meetings shall be made public through appropriate

student publications and other communications methods.

g. The Committee shall receive all Reconsideration Re-

quest Forms from the Superintendent or person desig-

nated by the Superintendent.

h. The procedure for the first meeting following receipt

of a Reconsideration Request Form is as follows:

(1) Distribute copies of written request form.

(2) Give complainant or a group spokesperson an op-

portunity to talk about and expand on the request form.

(3) Distribute

reputable,

professionally prepared

reviews of the material when available.

(4) Distribute copies of challenged material as

available.

I. At a subsequent meeting, interested persons, includ-

ing the complainant, may have the opportunity to share

their views. The Committee may request that individuals

with special knowledge be present to give information to

the committee.

j. The complainant shall be kept informed by the Secre-

tary concerning the status of his or her complaint through-

out the Committee reconsideration process. The

complainant and known interested parties shall be given

appropriate notice of such meetings.

k. At the second or a subsequent meeting, as desired,

the Committee shall make its decision in either open or

closed session. The Committee's final decision will be,

(1) to take no removal action, (2) to remove all or part of

the challenged material from the total school environment,

or (3) to limit the educational use of the challenged mate-

rial. The sole criteria for the final decision is the appropri-

ateness of the material for its intended educational use.

The vote on the decision shall be by secret ballot. The

written decision and its justification shall be forwarded to

the Superintendent for appropriate action, the com-

plainant and the appropriate attendance centers.

103

113

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

(Comment: The state open meeting law should be reviewed for its applica-

tion to this provision.)

I. A decision to sustain a challenge shall not be inter-

preted as a judgment of irresponsibility on the part of the

professionals involved in the original selection or use of

the material,

m. Requests to reconsider materials which have previ-

ously been before the Committee must receive approval

of a majority of the Committee members before the materi-

als will again be reconsidered. Every Reconsideration Re-

quest Form shall be acted upon by the Committee.

n. In the event of a severe overload of challenges, the

Committee may appoint a subcommittee of members or

nonmembers to consolidate challenges and to make

recommendations to the full Committee. The composition

of this subcommittee shall approximate the representa-

tion on the full Committee.

o. Committee members directly associated with the

selection, use, or challenge of the challenged material

shall be excused from the Committee during the deliber-

ation on such materiais. The Superintendent may appoint

a temporary replacement for the excused Committee

member, but such replacement shall be of the same

general qualifications of that person excused.

(Comment: The Committee should never be placed in the position of ap-

pearing to defend itself, its members, or the school staff. The Committee

must maintain a nonadversarial position.)

If the complainant is not satisfied with the decision,

he or she may request that the matter be placed on the

agenda of the next regularly scheduled meeting of the

Board.

(Comment: These requests should comply with existing board poiicy and

rules regarding the board agenda.)

q. Any person dissatisfied with the decision of the

Board may appeal to the State Board of Public Instruc-

tion pursuant to state law.

71 4

40 Questions and Answers

(Comment: Subsections p. Rnd q. are implicit and expressly provided for

respectively, in Iowa law. Some persons might feel that it would be more

appropriate to not use p. and q. as they may encourage appeals. The provi-

sions of q. would not be applicable to decisions of A.E.A. Boards, but would

be applicable to decisions of Area Community Technical College Boards

and School District Boards.)

The following policy statement was prepared by the Madison (Wis-

consin) Metropolitan School District and adopted by the district's board

of education on 13 September 1982.

Instructional Materials Selection

Policy and Procedures

Selection Responsibility

Pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes, the legal responsibility for the

selection of instructional materials rests with the Board of Educa-

tion. The purpose of this selection policy is to define the philosophy,

objectives, criteria, and procedures to be followed by those groups

that function as agents of the Board of Education for acquiring print

and audiovisual materials for instructional programs. These groups

include: Program Materials Selection (PMS) committees; Instructional

Materials Center (IMC) committees; Middle and High School Paper-

back committees; Specialized Educational Services (SES) commit-

tees; Chapter I (Title I) materials selection committees; and ad hoc

committees assigned to select materials for unique school programs.

Instructional materials include print and nonprint items such as

audiotapes and audiocassettes, books, computer programs, dio-

ramas, disc recordings, films, filmstrips, games, graphic works,

manuscripts, maps and globes, microforms, models, multimedia kits,

newspapers, overhead transparencies, pamphlets, periodicals, realia,

reference materials, slides, television programs, videocassettes,

videodiscs, videotapes, and various combinations of these.

Selection Philosophy

The right to a free choice among alternatives is basic to a

democratic society. It is through the exercise of the freedoms set

105

llt

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

forth in the Bill of Rights that an informed choice can take place.

If there is to be freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly,

then there must also be freedom to hear, to view, to read, and to

discuss. Our educational system must, therefore, allow a free ac-

cess to a full range of instructional materials to insure the realiza-

tion of these freedoms.

Selection Objectives

The basic objective of materials selection is to provide students

and faculty with learning resources that are intrinsic to the implemen-

tation of curriculum and that have value for diversified interests, abil-

ities, and maturity levels. Selected materials should:

1. stimulate thinking, provide facts, and contribute to student

growth in literary and aesthetic appreciation;

2. contain ideas and information that enable students to make

judgments and decisions relating to their daily lives;

3. present a diversity of viewpoints on controversial issues;

4. include the thinking and contribution of the many cultural, eth-

nic, and religious groups which constitute society in the United

States;

5. portray a variety of lifestyles with which students can identify;

6. represent the variety of communication formats to provide for

individual learning styles and to provide students the oppor-

tunity to analyze various media formats critically;

7. encourage students to read, view, and listen for pleasure and

recreation, fostering a life-long appreciation of such activities.

Selection Criteria

Instructional materials shall support and be consistent with the

general educational goals of the district. All materials should be

selected on the basis of an identified need for the materials and the

general suitability of the materials to the needs and abilities of those

who will use them. In potentially sensitive areas (e.g., race, sex, re-

ligion, political theory and ideology), materials should be selected

for their strengths and/or significance rather than rejected for their

weaknesses. Consideration of the criteria below, where relevant, shall

461

40 Questions and Answers

provide the basis for selection of instructional materials. The criteria

are not arranged in any particular order of importance.

1. Relation to Curriculum.

Materials should be selected for their contribution to the im-

plementation of the school's curriculum.

2. Relation to Existing Collection.

The materials should make a contribution to the balance

of the individual school collection of materials for which they

are selected.

3. Interest and Appeal.

The content and style of the materials should appeal to the

interests of those who will use them.

4. Accuracy and Authenticity.

The content of materials should be valid, reliable, and com-

plete. Imaginative materials should encourage worthwhile ap-

preciations, attitudes, understandings, and insights.

5. Authority.

Consideration should be given to the qualifications, repu-

tation, and significance of those responsible for creating the

material (the author, producer, publisher).

6. Comprehension.

The material should be clearly presented in a well-organized

fashion. The nature of concepts being developed should be

appropriate both to the intended users and the depth of cover-

age. In print materials, the readability should correspond to

the reading ability of the intended users; in nonprint materi-

als, audiovisual representations should correspond to the com-

prehension level of the intended users. The materials should

catch and hold the user's interest and stimulate further

learning.

7. Permanence and Timeliness.

The material should be of lasting value and/or should be

of widespread current interest or concern.

8. Cultural Pluralism.

Wisconsin Statutes (Chapter 89, Section J) mandate that

students have access "to a current, well-balanceo collection

of books, basic reference materials, periodicals, and audio-

107

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

visual materials which depict in an accurate and unbiased

way

the cultural diversity and pluralistic nature of American

Society."

Materials should foster respect for, and help students gain

an awareness of, the many contributions made by the vari-

ous groups which make up our pluralistic society. The materi-

als should present inter-group tension and conflict objectively,

placing emphasis on resoMng social and economic problems.

9. Whole vs. Part.

Each item should be approached from a broad perspective,

looking at the work as a whole and judging controversial

ele-

ments in context rather than as isolated parts. Periodicals, for

example, should be selected and purchased for their overall

reputation, and should not be rejected because of

an occa-

sional article which may be offensive.

10. Recency.

In certain subject areas (science and technology, for

exam-

ple), materials should be examined carefully for the

currency

of the information presented. Copyright date should be used

as one indicator of the currency of the material.

11. Format.

The medium selected to present the material should be

ap-

propriate to the content. For example, a series of still photo-

graphs of works of art might appropriately be presented in

filmstrip, slide program, or book rather than in

a film or video

tape. However, these latter media are appropriate when it is

important to show motion or present a dramatization.

12. Quality of Writing/Production.

The material should be acceptable mechanically and artisti-

cally with each element combining to form

an aesthetically

pleasing whole. The material should stimulate growth in fac-

tual knowledge and/or Jiterary appreciation. The content

should provide adequate scope, range, depth, and continuity

while maintaining user interest.

13. Technical and Physical Qualities.

Print material should be attractively presented with suita-

ble illustrations and graphics. The size and style of type should

101

40 Questions and Answers

be appropriate to th9 intended age level. Audio material should

use sound creatively and be clear and free of distortion. The

narrator should have a pleasant voice and speak with expres-

sion. Visual materials should have good picture quality and

be authentic in regard to detail, color, depth, dimension, and

size proportions. Original art work should be reproduced faith-

fully. There should be sufficient durability to meet the demands

of the intended user.

14. Cost.

The selection of any piece of material, particularly an ex-

pensive one, should be seen in relation to the degree of need

for the material, the amount of anticipated use, and existing

budgetary limitations. The possibility of shared use of materi-

als should be considered. In the event that materials are per-

ceived to be of comparable quality, the materials of least cost

shall be purchased.

15. Treatment of Controversial Issues.

Materials on controversial issues should be selected to rep-

resent the fullest possible range of contrasting points of view,

to provide a balanced collection of materials on such subjects.

16. Treatment of Religion.

Materials about religion should be chosen to explain, not

to indoctrinate.

17. Treatment of Profanity, Sex, and Violence.

The use of profanity, sexual incidents, or violence in a liter-

ary work should not automatically disqualify such material. The

decision should be made on the basis of the work's general

literary value, rather than on some isolatel parts, and on

whether it deals with situations realistically, presenting life in

its true proportions.

18. Treatment of Human Development.

Materials on human physiology, physical maturation, or per-

sonal hygiene should be accurate and objectively presented.

19. Treatment of Biased Materials.

Materials which unfairly, inaccurately, or viciously treat a

particular race, sex, ethnic group, age group, religion, etc.,

shall not be selected unless there exists a legitimate educa-

109

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

tional purpose

such as analysis, observation, historical de-

velopment of interpretation

for the use of such materials.

When necessary, the Department of Human Relations should

be consulted in evaluating such items.

20. Gift and Sponsored Materials.

Gift materials and sponsored materials must meet the

same

criteria as those selected for purchase. They are accepted with

the understanding that, if not suitable, they may be disposed

of at the discretion of the school staff members who have

received the materials.

Board of Education policy #3660 requires that instructional

materials that carry advertising be screened and approved by

a committee appointed by the Assistant Superintendent.

Policy

Reconsideration of Selected Materials

A complaint about a book or other instructional material by

a resi-

dent of the Madison Metropolitan School District shoula be

given con-

sideration by district administrators and the Board of Education only

after attempts to resolve it at the local school level

have been ex-

hausted. The use of materials being reconsidered shall

not be re-

stricted until a final deposition of the complaint has been

reached.

Reconsideration decisions made at

one school shall not be binding

on other schools.

Procedure

Reconsideration of Selected Materials

Upon receipt of a complaint about a book

or other instructional

material, the Building Principal shall contact the complainant

and appropriate school staff to discuss the complaint and at-

tempt to resolve it by explaining the philosophy and goals of

the instructional program and the selection policy and

procedure.

2. A standard questionnaire (Request for Reconsideration of

In-

structional Materials) and cover letter shall be sent to the

com-

plainant with a request that he/she return the colapleted

110

12 0

40 Questions and Answers

questionnaire to the Building Principal. The Principal shall

send a duplicate of the completed questionnaire to the ap-

propriate school staff and District Director.

Upon receipt of the completed questionnaire, the Principal

shall appoint and convene an advisory committee consisting

of appropriate school staff (including school media specialists

when IMC materials are involved) and parents to consider the

complaint. The committee will use the stated selection criter-

ia in its reconsideration of a book or other instructional mate-

eel, and will respond in writing to the complainant, with a copy

sent to the District Director and appropriate program coordi-

nators.

Following consideration by the Principal and committee, if it

is the desire of the complainant, the complaint is submitted

to the Superintendent for consideration.

Following consideration by the Superintendent, if it is the de-

sire of the complainant, the complaint is submitted to the

Board of Education.

The Board of Education, through the Superintendent, shall

be informed of any decision at any level to remove an item

from classroom or IMC use if it is the result of a complaint

handled through this process.

Complaints submitted directly to the Superintendent and/or

Board of Education shall be referred to the appropriate Build-

ing Principal.

3 6.

What steps should a school system follow if a per-

son complains about a book or some other teach-

ing material or teaching method?

1. The person responsible for the challenged material (teacher or

librarian) should be given the opportunity to meet informally with the

person making the complaint. Teachers and librarians throughout the

nation have reported that such meetings frequently resolve the prob.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

lem. The complainant may he seeking information about how and why

the book

or whatever

is used. Courteous, clear answers to the

how and why frequently satisfy the complainants.

2. If a school administrator or school board member is the first to

hear the complaint, he or she should not take unilateral action. Rather,

the school official should take step one above (see question 39).

3. If the complainant is not satisfied as a result of the informal meet,

ing, then he or she should be given a request for reconsideration form

(see question 37).

On receipt of the signed request for reconsideration form, the

school official handling the complaint should give the challenged ma-

terial to the reconsideration committee, which should have been ap-

pointed annually (see question 35).

5. Access to the challenged material should not be limited during

the period of reconsideration.

6. The decision of the reconsideration committee should be given

to the superintendent. (For a more complete discussion of the steps

and for a consideration of various conflicts that might arise in the recon-

sideration process, see the Iowa policy in question 35.)

Several school officials have told me that they believe a public hear-

ing conducted by the reconsideration committee before it makes its

decision can be valuable. Such a healing gives various segments of the

community an opportunity to speak out. The danger of such a hearing

is obvious: one side may try to monopolize the meeting. But the school

officials who have talked with me indicate that giving the community

an opportunity to speak is well worth the risk.

122

112

40 Questions and Answers

37. What is a request for reconsideration form and when

should it be used?

The following request for reconsideration form is reprinted with the

permission of the American Association of School Librarians, 50 East

Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611.

REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATION

OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

School

Please check type of material:

( ) Book

( ) Film (

) Record

( ) Periodical

( ) Filmstrip

( ) Kit

( ) Pamphlet

(

) Cassette

( ) Other

Title

Author

Publisher or Producer

Request Initiated by

Telephone

Address

City

State Zip

The following questions are to be answered after the complainant

has read, viewed, or listened to the school library material in its en-

tirety. If sufficient space is not provided, attach additional sheets.

(Please sign your name to each additional attachment.)

1. To what in the material do you object? (Please be specific, cite

pages, frames in a filmstrip, film sequence, et cetera.)

2. What do you believe is th6 theme or purpose of this material?

3. What do you feel might be the result of a student using this

material?

4. For what age group would you recommend this material?

5. Is there anything good in this material? Please comment.

123

113

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

6. Would you care to recommend other school library material of

the same subject and format?

Signature of Complainant Date

Please return completed form to the school principal.

This form should be used only after the informal meeting (see ques-

tion 36) if the complainant is not satisfied with the discussion and wants

to take formal action to challenge the book, other teaching material,

course, or teaching method.

38. What steps can be taken to enhance academic free-

dom for teachers?

Teachers in some communities have succeeded in having a clause

on academic freedom included in the master contract. Here is one sam-

ple from Article XVII of the master contract of the teachers in the Fort

Wayne (Indiana) School Corporation:

Academic Freedom

It is mutually recognized that freedom carries with it responsibili-

ty; academic freedom also carries with it academic responsibility

which is determined by the bas!c !deals, goals, and institutions of

the local community. Discussion and analysis of controversial issues

should be conducted within the framework of the fundamental values

of the community as they are expressed in the educational philoso-

phy and objectives of the Board.

Within the preceding frame of reference and as it pertains to the

course to which a teacher is assigned, academic freedom in the Fort

Wayne Community Schools is defined as:

The right to teach and learn about controversial issues which

have economic, political, scientific, or social significance.

124

114

40 Questions and Answers

2. The right to use mateiials which are relevant to the levels of

ability and maturity of the students and to the purposes of the

school system.

3. The right to maintain a classroom environment which is con-

ducive to the free exchange and examination of ideas which

have economic, political, scientific or social significance.

4. The right of teachers to participate fully in tt e public affairs

of the community.

5. The right of students to hold divergent ideas as long as the

expression of their dissent is done within the guidelines of de-

bate and discussion which are generally accepted by teachers

in a normal classroom environment.

6. The right of teachers to a free expression of conscience as

private citizens with the correlative responsibility of a profes-

sional presentation of balanced views relating to controver-

sial issues as they are studied in the classroom.

The State of Connecticut took a major step toward ensuring academic

freedom when it adopted its policy on academic freedom. The follow-

ing is taken from the State of Connecticut Controversial Issues Policy

(1981):

Free to Learn

A Policy on Academic Freedom and Public Education

Academic freedom is the freedom to teach and to learn. In defend-

ing the freedom to teach and to learn, we affirm the democratic pro-

cess itself. American public education is the source of much that is

essential to our democratic heritage. No other single institution has

so significantly sustained our national diversity, nor helped voice our

shared hopes for an open and tolerant society. Academic freedom

is among the strengths of American public education. Attempts to

deny the freedom to teach and to learn are, therefore, incompatible

with the goals of excellence and equity in the life of our public schools.

With freedom comes responsibility. With rights come obligations.

Accordingly, academic freedom in our public schools is subject to

certain limitations. Therefore, the STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

affirms that:

115

125

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Academic freedom in our public schools is properly defined with-

in the context of law and the constraints of mutual respect among

individuals. Public schools represent a public trust. They exist to pre-

pare our children to become partners in a society of self-governing

citizens. Therefore, access to ideas and opportunities to consider

the broad range of questions and experiences which constitute the

proper preparation for a life of responsible citizenship must not be

defined by the interests of any single viewpoint. Teachers, school

administrators, librarians, and school media specialists must be free

to select instructional and research materials appropriate to the matu-

rity level of their students. This freedom is itself subject to the

reasonable restrictions mandated by law to school officials and ad-

ministrators. At the same time, local school officials must demon-

strate substantial or legitimate public interest in order to justify

censorship or other proposed restrictions upon teaching and learn-

ing. Similarly, local boards of education cannot establish criteria for

the selection of library books based solely on the personal, social

or political beliefs of school board members. While students must

be free to voice their opinions in the context of a free inquiry after

truth and respect for their fellow students and school personnel, stu-

dent expression which threatens to interfere substantially with the

school's function is not warranted by academic freedom. Students

must be mindful that their rights are neither absolute nor unlimited.

Part of responsible citizenship is coming to accept the consequences

of the freedoms to which one is entitled by law and tradition. Simi-

larly, parents have the right to affect their own children's education,

but this right must be balanced against the right other parents' chil-

dren have to a suitable range of educational experiences. Through-

out, the tenets of academic freedom seek to encourage a spirit of

reasoned community participation in the life and practices of our pub-

lic schools.

Since teaching and learning are among the missions of our public

schools, the STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION affirms the distinction

between teaching and indoctrination. Schools should teach students

how to think, not what to think. To study an idea is not necessarily

to endorse an idea. Public school classrooms are forums for inquiry,

not arenas for the promulgation of particular viewpoints. While com-

1 2 b

116

40 Questions and Answers

munities have the right to exercise supervision over their own pub-

lic school practices and programs, their participation in the educa-

tional life of their schools should respect the constitutional and

intellectual rights guaranteed school personnel and students by

American law and tradition.

Accordingly, the STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, in order to en-

courage improved educational practices, recommends that local

school boards adopt policies and procedures to receive, review, and

take action upon requests that question public school practices and

programs. Community members should be encouraged, and made

aware of their rights to voice their opinions about school practices

and programs in an appropriate administrative forum. The STATE

BOARD OF EDUCATION further recommends that local school

boards take steps to encourage informed community participation

in the shared work of sustaining and improving our public schools.

Finally, the STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION affirms that commu-

nity members and school personnel should acknowledge together

that the purpose of public education is the pursuit of knowledge and

the preparation of our children for responsible citizenship in a socie-

ty that respects differences and shared freedom.

39. What is the role of an administrator in a censorship

incident?

First, the administrator should attempt to schedule an informal meet-

ing with the complainant(s) and the person (teacher or librarian)

responsible for the challenged material. Second, the administrator

should refrain from taking the side of the complainant immediately,

as has been the case in a number of censorship incidents throughout

the nation. Unfortunately, some school administrators have commented

negatively on a book without having read it. Third, the administrator

should follow the procedures for handling complaints and should not

remove a book unilaterally. Such action might prove embarrassing and

might result in a lawsuit.

117

12'-/

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

40. What books should teachers, librarians, and ad-

ministrators read to understand the schoolbook pro-

test movement and to be prepared to cope with it?

Joseph E. Bryson and Elizabeth W. Detty. Censorship of Public School

Library and Instructional Material. Charlottesville, Va.: Michie

Company, 1982.

Lee Burress and Edward Jenkinson. The Student's Right to Know.

Champaign, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, 1983.

James E. David, ed. Ikaling with Censorship. Champaign, Ill.: National

Council of Teachers of English, 1979.

Homer Duncan. Secular Humanism: The Most Dangerous Religion

in America. Lubbock, Tex.: Missionary Crusader, 1979.

Stanley Elam, ed. Public Schools and the First Amendment. Blooming-

ton, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa, 1983.

James C. Hefley. Textbooks on Trial. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1976.

(Published in paperback as Are Tex:books Harming Your Children?

Milford, Mich.: Mott Media, 1979.)

Edward B. Jenkinson. Censors in the Classroom. Carbondale, Ill.:

Southern Illinois University Press, 1979.

Paul Kurtz. In Defense of Secular Humanism Buffalo: Prometheus

Books, 1983.

Tim LaHaye. The Battle for the Public SchooLs. Old Tappan, N.J.: Flem-

ing Revell, 1983.

Corliss Lamont. The Philosophy of Humanism, 4th ed., rev. New York

Philosophical Library, 1957.

Connaught Coyne Marshner. Blackboard Tyranny. New Rochelle, N.Y.:

Arlington House, 1978.

Barbara M. Morris. Change Agents in the Schools. Upland, Calif.: The

Barbara M. Morris Report, 1979.

Robert M. O'Neil. Classrooms in the Crossfire: The Rights and In-

terests of Students, Parents, Teachers, Administrators, Librari-

ans, and the Community. Bloomington: Indiana TJniversity Press,

1981.

Barbara Parker and Stefanie Weiss. Protecting the Freedom to Learn:

A Citizen's Guide. Washington, D.C.: People for the American Way,

1983.

126

118

40 Questions and Answers

Francis A. Schaeffer. How Should We Then Live? Old Tappan, N.J.:

Fleming Revell, 1976.

Phyllis Schlafly. Child Abuse in the Classroom. Westchester, Ill.: Cross-

way Books, 1984.

119 129

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Footnotes

Question 2

1. Jack Nelson and Gene Roberts, Jr., The _r:ensors and the Schools (Bos.

ton: Little, Brown and Company, 1963), pp. 24.26.

Ibid., p. 26.

3. Ibid., pp. 24-33.

4. Reported in Edward B. Jenkinson, Censors in the Classroom (Carbon-

dale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979), p. 37.

5. Several monographs and articles referred to the Kanawha County inci .

dent as "The Battle of the Books." See, for example, footnotes 6 and 8

below.

6. The summary of the Kanawha County textbook battle is based on Frank-

lin Parker's fastback The Battle of the Books: Kanawha County (Blooming.

ton, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1975); and on

Kanawha County West Virginia: A Texthook Study in Cultural Con-

flict (Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, n.d.).

7. James C. Hefley, Textbooks on Trial (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1976),

p. 166.

8. John Egerton, "The Battle of the Books," The Progressive (June 1975):

p. 13.

Question 3

1. "Survey Reports Rise in School Library Censorship," Newsletter on In-

tellectual Freedom, January 1983, p. 1. Also based on comments made

to the author by Lee Burress in correspondence, telephone calls, and con-

versations.

2. Ibid.

3. Indianapolis Star, 31 December 1978, p. 1. Los Angeles Times, 3 June

1978, p. 1.

4. Speech at a University of Minnesota Conference, 26 January 1983.

5. Limiting What Stwients Shall Read: Books and Other Learning Materi-

als in Our Publ:... Schools: How They Are Selected and How They Are

Removed, Sponsored by the Association of American Publishers, the

American Library Association, and the Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development, 1981, p. 3.

6. Mimeographed memorandum to Members of the Oregon Educational Me-

dia Association from the Intellectual Freedom Committee, 28 February

1989, p. 2.

130

120

40 Questions and Answers

7. Shirley Fitzgibbons, Judith Allen, Rachel Brown, and Catherine lloward,

"Selection and Censorship in Indiana School Libraries: Summary Report

on the Intellectual Freedom Survey," Indiana Media

Journal (Winter

1983): 26.

8. Duplicated copy of an article by Amy McClure titled "Censorship in Ohio:

It IS Happening Here," sent to the author by Professor McClure on 22

September 1982.

9. Attacks on the Freedom to Learn: Lessons of Fear (1982-83) and At-

tacks on the Freedom to Learn: A 1983-84 Report, published by People

for the American Way, Washington, D.C.

Question 4

1. Donahue, 17 January 1978 and 20 February 1980.

2. Statement made by Mel Gabler on Donahue, 17 January 1978.

Question 6

Interview on The MacNeil-Lehrer Report, 20 February 1982.

2. Reported in the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, January 1983, p. 26.

3. Reported in the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, May 1980, p. 53.

Question 7

Lester Asheim, "Not Censorship but Selection," Wilson Libraiy Bulletin

(September 1952): 67.

2. Doctor from Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Donahue, 17 January 1978.

3. Max Rafferty, "Should S:boolmen Serve as Censors?" The Nation's

Schools (September 1964): 62. Quoted by June Edwards in "Do We Cen-

sor or Select - The Perennial Question," Arizona English

Bulletin 22,

No. 1 (1979).

4. Julia T. Bradley, "Censoring the School Libniry: Do Students Have the

Right to Read?" Connecticut Law Review 10 (Spring 1978): 770.

5. "How Fair Are Your Children's Twabooks" (Washington, D.C.: National

Education Association, n.d.).

Question 9

1. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Commun. School District, 393 U.S. 503

(1969).

Tinker, p. 506.

Question 10

1. Alan Levine, The Rights qf Students (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1973), p. 19.

2. Ibid.

121

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

3. Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1924).

4. Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972).

5. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Commun. School District, 393 U.S. 503

(1969).

6. Julia T. Bradley, "Censoring the School Library: Do Students Have the

Right to Read?" Connecticut Law Review (Spring 1978): 760.

Ibid., p. 761.

8. Ibid., p. 750.

Question 11

1. Mailloux v. Kiley, 448 F.2d 1242 (1st Cir. 1971).

Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Stephen R. Goldstein, "The Asserted Constitutional Right of Public School

Teachers to Determine What They Teach," University of Pennsylvania

Law Review 124 (June 1976): 1324.

Ibid., p. 1356.

6. Cary v. Board of Educ. of the Adams-Arapahoe School Dist. 28-j, Aurora,

Colorado, 427 F.Supp. 945.952 (D. Colo. 1977).

Ibid., p. 950.

8. Keefe v. Geanakos, 418 F.2d 359 (1st Cir. 1969).

9. Wiemann v. Updegraff, 344 U.S. 183 (1952).

10. Parducci v. Rutland, 316 F.Supp. 352 (M.D. Ala. 1970).

11.

Ibid., pp. 353-354.

12.

Ibid., pp. 355-356.

13. Ibid., p. 356.

14. Martha M. McCarthy and Nelda H. Cambron, Public School Law:

Teachers' and Students' Rights (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1981): 49.

15. Ibid.

16. State ex rel. Wailewski v. Board of School Directors, 14 Wis. 2d 243, 111

N.W.2d 198 (1961).

17. Ahern v. Board of Education, 327 F.Supp. 1391 (D. Neb. 1971), ord, 456

F.2d 399 (8th Cir. 1972).

18. Birdwell v. Hazel School District, 352 F.Supp. 613 (E.D. Mo. 1972), gird,

491 F.2d 490 (8th Cir. 1974).

19. Adams v. Campbell County School District, 511 F.2d 1242 (10th Cir.

1975).

Question 12

1. Robert M. O'Neil, "Libraries, Liberty and the First Amendment," Univer-

sity of Cincinnati Late Review 42, no. 2 (1973): 209.

132

122

40 Questions and Answers

2. President's Council, Dist. 25 v. Community School Bd. No. 25, 457 F.2d

292 (2d Cir. 1972).

3. 409 U.S. 999-1000 (1972).

4. O'Neil, p. 212.

Ibid., p. 252.

6. Julia T. Bradley, "Censoring the School Library: Do Students Have the

Right to Read?" Connecticut Law Review (Spring 1978): 757-58.

7 .

News release prepared by the United Teachers of Island Trees, 7 October

1976, p. 1.

Ibid., p. 2.

Ibid.

10. Brief of American Jewish Committee, et aL, submitted in the United States

District Court for the Eastern District of New York in the case of Pico

v. Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District, p. 7.

11. Pico v. Island Trees School District, 474 F.Supp. 387 (E.D. N.Y. 1979).

12. R. Bruce Rich, "The Supreme Coun's Decision in Island Trees," News-

letter on Intellectual Freedom, September 1982, p. 149.

13.

Ibid, pp. 174-75.

14. Minarcini v. Strongsville City School District, 384 F.Supp. 698 (1974),

ced, 541 F.2d 577 (6th Cir. 1976).

15. Right to Read Defense Committee of Chelsea v. School Committee of the

City of Chelsea, 454 F.Supp. 703 (D. Mass. 1978).

16. Salvail v. Nashua Bd. of Education, 469 F.Supp. 1269 (D.N.H. 1979).

17. Bicknell v. Vergennes Union High School Bd. of Directors, 638 F.2d 438

(2d Cir. 1980).

18. Zykan v. Warsaw Commun. School Corp., 631 F2d 1300 (7th Cir. 1980).

19. Pratt v. Independent School Dist. No. 831, 670 F.2d 771 (8th Cir. 1982).

Question 13

1. David Schimmel and Louis Fisher, The Rights of Parents in the Educa-

tion of Their Children (Columbia, Md.: National Committee for Citizens

in Education, 1977), p. 82.

Ibid., p. 89.

3. Robert O'Neil, Classrooms in the Crosere (Bloomington: Indiana Univer-

sity Press, 1981), p. 58.

Ibid., p. 56.

Question 16

1. Ken Donelson, "Censorship: Some Issues and Problems," Theory into Prac-

tice (June 1975): 193.

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Question 17

I. Organizing an Effective Parent Group: Action Kit *1 (Washington, D.C:

American Education Coalition, n.d.), pp. 4-5. Although no date is given

for the publication, the group was formed in 1984.

2. Ibid., pp. 6-7.

3. Ibid., pp. 8-11.

4. Ibid., pp. 21-22.

5. Ibid., pp. 22-23.

6. Ibid., pp. 26-30.

7. Ibid., pp. 31-32.

8. Connaught Coyne Marshner, Blackboard Tyranny (New Rochelle, N.Y.:

Arlington House, 1978), p. 191.

9. Ibid.. p. 239.

10. Ibid., p. 242.

11. Ibid., p. 246.

12. Mimeographed, undated document titled "Getting Involved in Your Area"

and distributed by The MEL GABLERs, p. 2.

13. Mel and Norma Gabler, "A Parent's Guide to Textbook Re% iew and Re-

form," Education Update (Winter 1978), Heritage Foundation, Washing-

ton, D.C.

Question 19

1. The MEL GABLERs Educational Research Analysts NEWSLETTER, May

1981, p. 1.

2. Mimeographed sheet distrthuted by the Gablers titled "FOR YOUR CON-

SIDERATION..."

3. Mimeographed sheet distrilAited by the Gablers.

4. Mimeogra^hed sheet distributed by the Gablers tided "1978 Report" and

mailed in November 1978. p. 2.

5. William Martin, "The Guardians Who Slumbereth Not," Texas Monthly

(November 1982): 148.

6. Ibid.

7. "The World According to the Gab lers: Ruminations from God's Angry Cou.

ple," Texas Monthly (November 1982): 151.

Bill of Particulars on the Houghton Mifflin Company's Serendipity sub-

mitted by the Gablers on 8 August 1974.

Bill of Particulars on the Goodheart-Willcox Company's Homemaking

Skills for Everyday Living submitted by the Gablers in 1981.

10.

Bill of Particulars on Ginn and Company's Living, Learning, and Car-

ing submitted by the Gabiers in 1981.

1334

40 Questions and Answers

11.

Bill of Particulars on the Globe Book Company's Exploring American

Citizenship submitted by the Gablers in 1981.

12. "TEXTBOOK REVIEWING BY CATEGORIES," a mimeographed, undat-

ed outline distributed by the Gablers.

Question 20

1. Education Week, 25 January 1984, p. 17.

2. New York Times, 15 August 1982, p. 1.

3. Education Week, op. cit.

4. Reported in Edward B. Jenkinson, Censors in the Classroom (Carbon-

dale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979), p. 77.

5. Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 October 1982, p. WA.

6. Mimeographed sheet distributed by the Gablers and titled 1978 Report

and mailed in November 1978, p. 2.

Letter from Professor Gerald Skoog to Joe Kelly Butler, Chairman of the

Texas State Board of Education, 6 May 1983.

8. From the 1983 Texas Textbook Proclamation.

9. Reported in the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, July 1984, p. 97.

10. Testimony of Edward Jenkinson before the Texas State Board of Educa-

tion, 12 May 1983.

Question 22

1. Jerry Falwell, "Textbooks in Public Schools: A Disgrace and Concern to

America," Journal Champion, 4 May 1979, p. 1.

Ibid.

3. Spotlight, 14 May 1979, p. 1.

4. Letter to Fellow North Carolinians from H. Lamarr Mooneyham, State

Chairman, Moral Majority of North Carolina, Inc., p. 3.

5. Raleigh News & Observer, 1 June 1981, p. 8.

6. Los Angeles Times News Service, 22 March 1981.

7. The News & The Daily Advance, Lynchburg, Virginia, 23 November 1980,

Ibid., 23 May 1981, p. A-3.

Question 23

1. James R. Larson, "flow I Survived My Encounter with the New Right."

The Executive Editor (January 1983): 22.

Question 24

1. William Martin, "The Guardians Who Slumbereth Not," Texas Monthly

(November 1982): 148.

125

The Schoolbook Protest Movement

Question 25

1. Tim LaHaye, The Battle for the Mind (Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming Revell,

1980), p. 9.

2. LaHaye, The Battle for the Public Schools (Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming

Revell, 1983), p. 13.

3. Mimeographed sheet included in a packet sent to a concerned parent by

Educational Research Analysts.

4. LaHaye, The Battle for the Public Schools, pp. 71-97.

Ibid., pp. 36-42, 173-202, 227-238, 71-97, 203-226.

6. Janet Egan of Parents of Minnesota, Inc., on the MacNeil/Lehrer Report,

20 February 1980.

7. From the Introduction to Homer Duncan's Secular Humanism: The Most

Dangerous Religion in America (Lubbock, Tex.: Missionary Crusader,

1979), p. 4.

Question 28

1. This figure is based on informal summaries I have conducted in speeches

to teachers and administrators in 33 states.

2. Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U.S. 488 (1961).

3. United States v. Seeger, 380 U.S. 163 (1965).

4. Congressional Record - Senate, 6 June 1984, S 6674.

5. Memorandum of the American Civil Liberties Union on "The Constitu-

tionality of Section 709 of the Education for Economic Security Act of

1984: The 'Secular Humanism' Ban," 12 April 1985, p. 1.

Ibid., p. 19.

Question 29

1. From a mimeographed transcript of the decision in Grove v. Mead, Unit-

ed States District Court, Eastern District of Washington.

2. From the brief Med by Michael Farris in the United States District Court,

Eastern District of Tennessee.

Question 30

1. Congressional Record - Senate, 19 February 1985, S 1389.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

Question 31

1. The summary of the Tell City schoolbook controversy is based on Ed-

ward B. Jenkinson, "The Tale of Tell City: An Anti.Censorship Saga" (a

discussion paper published by People for the American Way, May 1983,

1163

40 Questions cc d Answers

pp. 1-15); and in Edward B. Jenkinson, "The Censorship Tale

of Tell City,"

Indiana English (Spring 1983): 21-28.

Sources I used to report the Tell City incident inch:ded cassette tapes

of all of the proceedings of the January, February, and March meetings

of the school board. Also, tapes of the Tell City book rally in February

1982, and tapes of two radio broadcasts critical of the school system. Also,

letters from, and an interview with, the superintendent of schools, as well

as Jetters to him from local citizens. Finally, clippings

from area newspapers

(Tell City News, Evansville Press, and Louisville Courier-Journal) for

January, February, and March of 1982.

I3i

127